Nessa Carson

Oxygen Storage Hard X-ray spectro-ptychography (ptychographic-XAFS) is used by Y. Takahashi et al. in their Communication on page 1474 to visualize cerium density and valence of platinum-supported ceria-zirconia oxide Pt/Ce₂Zr₂O_x catalyst particles with high spatial resolution.

Using curiosity as the starting point for careful observation of nature and society is a nontrivial skill, and a starting point for new intellectual endeavors and adventures. It is one essential contributor to creativity in science, and a start in forcing new ideas into inflexible professional orthodoxies.

A new method was developed for the first catalytic enantioselective borylation of aliphatic ketones. A variety of substrates reacted efficiently with bis(pinacolato)diboron in the presence of a copper(I)/chiral N-heterocyclic carbene complex catalyst to furnish optically active tertiary α-hydroxyboronates with moderate to high enantioselectivities (up to 94 % ee). Notably, the product could be converted into the chiral tertiary alcohol derivative using a stereospecific boron functionalization process. The theoretical study of the mechanism for the enantioselectivity is also described.

Ketone functionalization: The first catalytic enantioselective borylation of ketones is presented. A variety of aliphatic ketones reacted efficiently with bis(pinacolato)diboron in the presence of a copper(I)/chiral N-heterocyclic carbene complex to furnish the corresponding tertiary α-hydroxyboronate esters with moderate to high enantioselectivities.

Since its original discovery over a century ago, the water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) has played a crucial role in industrial chemistry, providing a source of H₂ to feed fundamental industrial transformations such as the Haber–Bosch synthesis of ammonia. Although the production of hydrogen remains nowadays the major application of the WGSR, the advent of homogeneous catalysis in the 1970s marked the beginning of a synergy between WGSR and organic chemistry. Thus, the reducing power provided by the CO/H₂O couple has been exploited in the synthesis of fine chemicals; not only hydrogenation-type reactions, but also catalytic processes that require a reductive step for the turnover of the catalytic cycle. Despite the potential and unique features of the WGSR, its applications in organic synthesis remain largely underdeveloped. The topic will be critically reviewed herein, with the expectation that an increased awareness may stimulate new, creative work in the area.

New directions for a classic: In addition to its fundamental role in the production of hydrogen, the water-gas shift reaction has found application in a multitude of reductive transformations in organic synthesis. These include hydrogenation-type reactions, as well as catalytic, overall-reductive processes wherein the CO/H₂O couple can act as the terminal reductant.