Most drugs function by binding reversibly to specific biological targets, and therapeutic effects generally require saturation of these targets. One means of decreasing required drug concentrations is incorporation of reactive metal centers that elicit irreversible modification of targets. A common approach has been the design of artificial proteases/nucleases containing metal centers capable o...

Creating highly active and stable metal catalysts is a persistent goal in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. However, a real catalyst can rarely achieve both of these qualities simultaneously due to limitations in the design of the active site and support. One method to circumvent this problem is to fabricate firmly attached metal species onto the voids of a mesoporous support formed simulta...

The first addition of alcohols to carbodiimides catalyzed by transition-metal-free compounds employs 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) and its alkali metal salts. Isoureas are obtained in short reaction times and high yields when TBDK is used as the catalyst. Control of the coordination sphere of potassium with exogenous chelating ligands, in combination with mechanistic DFT calculation...

Bacteria can fabricate platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts cheaply, a key consideration of industrial processes and waste decontaminations. Biorecovery of PGMs from wastes is promising but PGM leachates made from metallic scraps are acidic. A two-step biosynthesis 'pre-seeds' metallic deposits onto bacterial cells benignly; chemical reduction of subsequent metal from acidic solution via the se...

A new non-precious metal oxygen reduction catalyst was developed via heat treatment of in situ polymerized polyaniline onto TiO(2) particles in the presence of Fe species. The TiO(2) provides for improved performance relative to a carbon black-based catalyst and, at a high catalyst loading, allows for reducing the performance gap between non-precious-metal catalyst and Pt/C to ca. 20 mV in RDE ...

Efficient aerobic oxidative methyl esterification of primary alcohols has been achieved with a heterogeneous catalyst consisting of 1 mol % Pd/charcoal (5 wt %) in combination with bismuth(III) nitrate and tellurium metal. The Bi and Te additives significantly increase the reaction rate, selectivity, and overall product yields. This readily accessible catalyst system exhibits a broad substrate ...

Since their discovery, carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers (CNTs or CNFs) have exhibited potential in a wide range of physical and chemical applications [1] and [2]. For applications in gas phase catalysis, loose CNTs or CNFs are unsuited because they limit the catalyst–reactant transport properties and they are difficult to handle when filling in the reactor tubes. In addition, there is a h...

We report a new approach, termed "growth by nanopatterned host-medicated catalyst" (NHC growth), to solve nonuniformities of Si nanowires (NWs) grown on amorphous substrates. Rather than pure metal catalyst, the NHC uses a mixture of metal catalyst with the material to be grown (i.e., Si), nanopatterns them into desired locations and anneals them. The Si host ensures one catalyst-dot per-growth...