Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

HOT Article: Carbon Dioxide – not just a green house gas!

16 Nov 2011

Using CO₂ as a sustainable feedstock for industry is attracting increased attention. However, the low reactivity of carbon dioxide means its use can be quite limited, requiring extreme conditions for reactions to occur. Kazushi Mashima and colleagues from Japan and Germany have developed a new tetranuclear zinc cluster system which catalyses the insertion of CO₂ into epoxide rings to produce cyclic carbonates. Their system shows good activity at room temperature, ambient pressure, is tolerant to a wide range of CO₂ impurities and water………… making this a very versatile catalyst!

For more details into their investigation read this advance article which is free to access in Catalysis Science & Technology until 2012

Efficient cyclic carbonate synthesis catalyzed by zinc cluster systems under mild conditions

Yi Yang, Yukiko Hayashi, Yuka Fujii, Takuto Nagano, Yusuke Kita, Takashi Ohshima, Jun Okudac and Kazushi Mashima

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article

DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00404B, Paper

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HOT Minireview: Graphene & catalysis

14 Nov 2011

By Jennifer Newton, Publishing Editor.

Catalytic uses of graphene and its composities have shown promising results.

In this Catalysis Science & Technology HOT Minireview Bruno Machado and Philippe Serp give a broad overview of topics relating to graphene and its application in synthesis and catalysis. The outstanding physical, chemical and mechanical properties of graphene have attracted huge amounts of attention and Machaso and Serp attempt to distill out the properties and characterisation techniques of graphene that are pertinent to catalysis.

Read more for free until the 29th November 2011 at:

Graphene-based materials for catalysis
Bruno F. Machado and Philippe Serp
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00361E

Why not check-out some other articles published in Catalysis Science & Technology featuring graphene:

In situ green synthesis of Au nanostructures on graphene oxide and their application for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol
Yingwei Zhang, Sen Liu, Wenbo Lu, Lei Wang, Jingqi Tian and Xuping Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1142-1144
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00205H

Microwave-assisted synthesis of ZnO–graphene composite for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)
Xinjuan Liu, Likun Pan, Tian Lv, Ting Lu, Guang Zhu, Zhuo Sun and Changqing Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1189-1193
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00109D

Graphene support for enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Pd for alcohol oxidation
Ravindra Nath Singh and Rahul Awasthi
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 778-783
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00021G

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Capturing carbon dioxide electrochemically

11 Nov 2011

By Ruth Doherty, Deputy Editor.

Capturing CO2 using electrochemical methods, review by Mustain and colleagues………….

Over the past several years, there has been a growing interest in the capture of carbon dioxide emissions and either their permanent immobilization or chemical conversion to industrially relevant products. Though several processes have been developed to capture CO2, many of them are quite expensive since they require either ultra high purity CO2 or are energy intensive. Also, many purely chemical methods show low product selectivity.

This Perspective article, by William Mustain and co-workds, looks at ways in which electrochemical, photoelectrochemical and bioelectrochemical methods could be used for CO2 conversion. Electrochemical processes can reduce cost and increase reaction selectivity because they allow for direct control of the surface free energy.

Find out more about electrochemical solutions to the carbon capture problem in Mustain’s Hot Catalysis Science & Technology Perspective:

Recent progress in the electrochemical conversion and utilization of CO2
Neil S. Spinner, Jose A. Vega and William E. Mustain
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00314C

You can read this article for free – if you haven’t already why not sign up for free access to Catalysis Science & Technology here.

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HOT Article: Biologically inspired nanocatalysts

09 Nov 2011

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

This HOT perspective in Catalysis Science and Technology gives an insightful review from Miami into recent developments being made in biocatalysts. Their review covers the use of peptides to synthesise monometallic and multicomponent nanocatalysts, the use of peptide-scaffolds to produce non-spherical inorganic nanostructures and the potential of nanozymes. Nanozymes are bionanocatalysts which exploit the catalytic properties of enzyme active sites with the high dispersion and accessibility provided by colloids…… exciting stuff!

Read more by accessing the full Perspective for free.

Mimicking nature’s strategies for the design of nanocatalysts
Rohit Bhandari, Ryan Coppagez and Marc R. Knecht
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, Perspective
DOI: 10.1039/c1cy00350j

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HOT Article: Digestion produces high surface area catalysts

28 Oct 2011

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

In this Catalysis Science and Technology HOT Article, the selective synthesis of an amorphous titania-zirconia mixed oxide with a very high specific surface area is described. The synthesized mixed oxide has been thoroughly characterized by various techniques and evaluated for an important oxidative dehrogenation reaction using CO₂ as a soft oxidant.

Read more for FREE at:
High surface area TiO₂–Zr₂ prepared by caustic solution treatment, and its catalytic efficiency in the oxidehydrogenation of para-ethyltoluene by CO₂
Abhishek Burri, Nanzhe Jiang and Sang-Eon Park
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00281C

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Reactions of a bio-renewable platform chemical

24 Oct 2011

By Ruth Doherty, Deputy Editor.

In their recent Catalysis Science & Technology Hot Article, Andrew Marr and co-workers investigate the amination and dehydration of the key biomass intermediate, 1,3-propanediol, to make commercial chemicals.

Chemicals that can be derived from biomass will be of increasing importance as oil resources become stretched over an ever expanding market. The efficient conversion of intermdiates derived from biomass by fermentation to commercial chemicals is the key to a more sustainable chemical industry. 1,3-Propanediol (1,3-PDO) is one such intermediate, for example the fermentation of glycerol from biodiesel production by Clostridium butyricum produces 1,3-propanediol with good productivity.

In their Hot Article the group, based at Queen’s University Belfast, subjected this 1,3-propanediol to a range of amination conditions and found that an N-heterocyclic carbene piano stool complex was a good catalyst for amination and dehydration. Find out more by reading the article itself below – free to access.

Amination and dehydration of 1,3-propanediol by hydrogen transfer: reactions of a bio-renewable platform chemical
Sophie D. Lacroix, Annie Pennycook, Shifang Liu, Thomas T. Eisenhart and Andrew C. Marr
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00339A

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Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez appointed as Associate Editor

14 Oct 2011

By Jamie Humphrey, Editor.

Announcing a new Editorial Office for Catalysis Science & Technology

From November 2011, there will be a new option for submitting your articles for publication in Catalysis Science & Technology.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez, based at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, has recently been appointed as a Catalysis Science & Technology Associate Editor, with his Editorial Office opening in November.

Born and raised in Benidorm, Spain, Javier studied chemical engineering at the University of Alicante (1997) and later earned his PhD degree on catalyzed N2O activation with cum laude at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands (2002). After spending some time in industry (2002-2005), holding several positions at Norsk Hydro and Yara International in Porsgrunn (Norway) where he was responsible of core projects related to catalyst development within fertilizer production, he then moved back to academia and was appointed ICREA research professor at ICIQ in Tarragona, Spain (2005-2009). In January 2010, he took up office as Full Professor at ETH Zurich.

Javier’s research interests lie in the design of nanostructured and hierarchical materials as well as reactor engineering concepts for application in heterogeneous catalysis.

Articles for consideration by Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez can be submitted here.

Find out more about Javier’s research at his website and check out some of his recent papers below:

Design of hierarchical zeolite catalysts by desilication Danny Verboekend and Javier Pérez-Ramírez,

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 879-890

DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00150G

A delafossite-based copper catalyst for sustainable Cl2 production by HCl oxidation Cecilia Mondelli, Amol P. Amrute, Timm Schmidt and Javier Pérez-Ramírez ,

Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 7173-7175

DOI: 10.1039/C1CC11891A

Surface state during activation and reaction of high-performing multi-metallic alkyne hydrogenation catalysts Blaise Bridier, Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Axel Knop-Gericke, Robert Schlögl and Detre Teschner,

Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 1379-1383,

DOI: 10.1039/C1SC00069A

Towards more efficient monodimensional zeolite catalysts: n-alkane hydro-isomerisation on hierarchical ZSM-22 Danny Verboekend, Karine Thomas, Maria Milina, Sharon Mitchell, Javier Pérez-Ramírez and Jean-Pierre Gilson

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011,

DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00240F

Molecular understanding of alkyne hydrogenation for the design of selective catalysts Blaise Bridier, Núria López and Javier Pérez-Ramírez,

Dalton Trans., 2010, 39, 8412-8419,

DOI: 10.1039/C0DT00010H

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Catalysis Science & Technology at ISHHC XV

14 Oct 2011

By Holly Sheahan, Development Editor.

Carolin Ziebart, ISHHC XV poster prize winner

Catalysis Science & Technology was delighted to sponsor a poster prize at the International Symposium on Relations between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis in Berlin in September.

The prize was awarded to Carolin Ziebart from the Leibniz-Institut für Katalysee.V., Rostock, Germany. The winning poster was entitled ‘Homogeneous catalyzed Hydrogenation of Bicarbonates and Carbon Dioxide to Formates, Alkyl Formates and Formamides with a well-defined Iron Catalyst’.

Congratulations to Carolin who works in Ralf Jackstell’s group, on homogenous catalysed carbon dioxide hydrogenation with non-noble metals.

A summary of the meeting can be found here: http://www.ishhc15.de/

Read our earlier blog to find out more about the meeting.

homogenous catalysed Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation with non-noble metals

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Catalysis Science & Technology in C&EN

11 Oct 2011

By Holly Sheahan, Development Editor.

A Graham Hutchings paper in Catalysis Science & Technology has been highlighted by C&EN, in their Science & Technology Concentrates.

You can find their news story midway down the Science & Technology section, entitled ‘Gold catalyzes Esterifications’: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/currentissue.html

The article is about Professor Hutchings work on ‘Oxidative esterification of 1,2-propanediol using gold and gold-palladium supported nanoparticles‘. In the paper they use gold and gold palladium nanoparticles to make methyl lactate (used in cosmetics) and methyl pyruvate (used to treat diseases of the nervous system).

Read Helen’s earlier blog to find out more: https://blogs.rsc.org/cy/2011/09/15/hot-article-nanoparticle-catalysis-with-the-midas-touch/

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook and sign up for free access and table of content e-alerts.

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Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

HOT Article: Carbon Dioxide – not just a green house gas!

HOT Minireview: Graphene & catalysis

Capturing carbon dioxide electrochemically

HOT Article: Biologically inspired nanocatalysts

HOT Article: Digestion produces high surface area catalysts

Reactions of a bio-renewable platform chemical

Top ten most accessed articles in september

Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez appointed as Associate Editor

Catalysis Science & Technology at ISHHC XV

Catalysis Science & Technology in C&EN

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