Marnix van der Kolk

Nature, Published online: 26 July 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02311-3

One of the most effective ways to keep people cool is often neglected in urban planning. Cities must work to provide cover and reverse the ‘shade deserts’ common in low-income communities.

Nature, Published online: 20 July 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02358-2

An eye-catching logo says a lot about your lab’s research, workplace culture and collaborative potential. Take time to get it right.

Nature Synthesis, Published online: 20 July 2023; doi:10.1038/s44160-023-00365-9

C(sp3)–H fluoroalkylation of bioactive molecules is a challenge. Now, a scalable and site-selective allylic fluoroalkylation of terpenes and olefins has been developed using a cobaloxime catalyst. Mechanistic studies reveal the process probably proceeds through halogen-atom transfer and hydrogen-atom transfer steps.

Nature, Published online: 19 July 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02364-4

How to throw a simple celebratory gathering to help students and staff to reflect on their accomplishments. Plus, the true cost of science’s language barrier for non-native English speakers, and a mammal wrestles a dinosaur in an extraordinary fossil.

Nature Synthesis, Published online: 13 July 2023; doi:10.1038/s44160-023-00364-w

Multiple-component cross-coupling reactions can often be unselective and inefficient, making them difficult to develop. Now a chemoselective chromium-catalysed process is reported, forming tertiary alkane centres from benzylic ethers, a Grignard reagent and a silyl chloride, alkyl tosylate or trifluoromethyl-substituted alkene.

Nature, Published online: 14 July 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02306-0

More research is needed to investigate a potential link between the common sweetener and cancer.

Nature, Published online: 04 July 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02214-3

First primate studies to show cognitive benefits of the protein klotho could be a step towards clinical applications.

Nature, Published online: 28 June 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02032-7

A New York experiment is part of a commercial race to develop ocean-based technologies to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Abstract

The development of novel synthetic methodologies to incorporate fluorine/s or fluoroalkyl group/s into the frameworks of organic molecules has become a highly prioritized research area because such modifications can tune their physiochemical and biological properties. In recent years, nucleophilic phosphine catalysis has been extensively explored to achieve this goal, and significant progress has been made. This review summarizes the methodological advancements of cycloaddition, addition and coupling reactions employing fluorinated building blocks as electrophilic and/or nucleophilic reaction partners under phosphine catalysis to construct structurally and synthetically valuable organofluorine compounds, with special emphasis on the synthetic strategies, proposed reaction mechanisms and synthetic utilities.

Nature, Published online: 27 June 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02156-w

The spacecraft is boosting understanding of the Martian surface and atmosphere.

Nature, Published online: 27 June 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02091-w

Tests show that certain types of plasticware give off high levels of microscopic plastic particles when heated in an microwave oven.

Nature Synthesis, Published online: 22 June 2023; doi:10.1038/s44160-023-00352-0

The most popular reactions used by medicinal chemists are often incompatible with nanoscale ultrahigh-throughput experimentation (ultraHTE). Now, a set of ultraHTE-amenable reaction conditions is reported for four of the most important transformations in drug discovery, and their generality and scalability tested on a range of complex natural products and drug candidates.

Chemical reductions of lignin are useful to remove oxygen and create product slates that can function as renewable platform molecules for new fuels and chemicals. Catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis (CTH) is an underexplored method to conduct reductions of lignin that obviates the use of dangerous and non-renewable hydrogen gas. While noble metals are used extensively as catalysts for transfer hydrogenation, one major challenge for their deployment is related to their sustainability. In this work, we synthesized mixed-metal oxides of earth-abundant Co and Ni. We characterized these catalysts using powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) and tested their reactivity for CTH of acetophenone. Among the catalysts we tested, we noted that the spinel NiCo2O4 demonstrated the highest conversion of acetophenone (75%) and highest selectivity for ethylbenzene (90%), so we applied it to valorization of switchgrass lignin extracted under mild operating conditions by cosolvent enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation (CELF). The catalytically depolymerized lignin showed an increase in selectively deoxygenated monomeric compounds. Using 2D-NMR spectroscopy, we demonstrated the lignin displayed highly reduced aliphatic carbons resulting from the reduction reaction at the Cα sites mediated by our catalyst material. These results are critical to the further development of the lignin-first biorefinery as they demonstrate the use of sustainable catalyst materials and mild transformation conditions to generate and refine a suite of new bioproducts.

Nature, Published online: 16 June 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01993-z

Human depletion of underground reservoirs has shifted the global distribution of water so much that the North Pole has drifted by more than 4 centimetres per year.

Biomass is the only renewable hydrocarbon resource on Earth and therefore plays an essential role in a future sustainable society. Nevertheless, biomass is underutilized for production of chemicals, and is instead burned for energy or left for compost. Derived from biogenic carbohydrates, gamma-valerolactone (GVL) holds pivotal potential as a green fuel, solvent, and platform compound. Converting carbohydrate-rich biomass waste directly to GVL is therefore highly attractive but also very challenging owing to the inert nature and high complexity of biomass, necessitating a versatile and selective catalytic system. Developing benign and complexity-preserving biomass valorization processes would not only allow for sustainable methods to synthesize valuable commodity chemicals, but also provide access to highly attractive carbon-negative procedures. Therefore, producing GVL, that preserves five out of six C–C bonds in hexoses and all the C–C bonds in pentoses, has a high potential. We describe the first direct conversion of raw lignocellulose, starch, and chitin biomass to GVL. Using 1.8 wt% of the homogeneous catalyst Ru-MACHO-BH in 10.9 M H3PO4(aq) with 30 bar of H2 at 140 °C for 24-120 hours provides GVL in excellent yields (10-26 wt%) from twelve different biogenic or industrially processed biowaste sources, either as individual substrates or a combined pool. This corresponds to 26-48mol% yields, or an average of approximately 80-90 mol% yield in each reaction step.