A new approach exploiting the dual properties of thiol-grafted cellulose paper for promoting copper-catalyzed [3+2]-cycloadditions of organic azides with alkynes and adsorbing residual copper species in solution was developed. The thiol-grafted cellulose paper, used as a paper strip, effects the reduction of CuII to catalytically active CuI and acts as a powerful adsorbent for copper, thereby facilitating the work-up process and leaving the crude mixture almost free of copper residues after a single filtration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2ER) to multi‐carbon chemical feedstocks over Cu‐based catalysts is of considerable attraction but suffers with the ambiguous nature of active sites, which hinder the rational design of catalysts and large‐scale industrialization. This paper describes a large‐scale simulation to obtain realistic CuZn nanoparticle models and the atom‐level structure of active sites for C2+ products on CuZn catalysts in CO2ER, combining neural network based global optimization and density functional theory calculations. Upon analyzing over 2000 surface sites through high throughput tests based on NN potential, two kinds of active sites are identified, balanced Cu−Zn sites and Zn‐heavy Cu−Zn sites, both facilitating C−C coupling, which are verified by subsequent calculational and experimental investigations. This work provides a paradigm for the design of high‐performance Cu‐based catalysts and may offer a general strategy to identify accurately the atomic structures of active sites in complex catalytic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Qi and Deyang exerted considerable effort to prepare and characterize the MOF-supported copper catalysts, which initially posed the greatest challenge for our group. It was lucky that the pillar-layered MOF reported in this I Angewandte i paper was among the first materials I designed for catalyst immobilization. I "I am waiting for the day when someone will discover recyclable heterogeneous catalysts with millions of turnovers for organic synthesis ... My group has fun by hiking, fishing, and singing at karaoke bars." i Find out more about Jian He in his Introducing ... Profile. [Extracted from the article]