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Aromatic nitriles are important building blocks with wide applications in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries as well as materials science. In a recent Chem Catalysis paper, Gröger and coworkers engineered aliphatic aldoxime dehydratases (Oxds) for the scalable synthesis of aromatic nitriles, delivering a sustainable and energy-efficient technology for the manufacturing of aromatic nitriles.

Selective catalytic functionalization of C( sp 3 paper, Arnold and co-workers engineered P450 nitrene transferases to aminate unactivated C( JACS paper, Arnold and co-workers engineered P450 nitrene transferases to aminate unactivated C( sp 3 )-H bonds with excellent site- and stereoselectivities.

The use of visible-light photosensitizers to power [2+2] photocycloadditions that produce complex tetrasubstituted cyclobutanes is a true success of photochemistry, but the scope of this reaction has been limited to activated α , β -unsaturated carbonyls. This paper describes selective intermolecular homo- and hetero-[2+2] photocycloadditions of terminal and internal aryl conjugated dienes - substrates historically unsuited for this reaction because of their multiple possible reaction pathways and product configurations - through triplet-triplet energy transfer from CdSe nanocrystal photocatalysts, to generate valuable and elusive syn-trans aryl vinylcyclobutanes. The negligible singlet-triplet splitting of nanocrystals' excited states allows them to drive the [2+2] pathway over the competing [4+2] photoredox pathway, a chemoselectivity not achievable with any known molecular photosensitizer. Reversible tethering of the cyclobutane product to the nanocrystal surface results in near quantitative yield of the syn-trans product. Flat colloidal CdSe nanoplatelets produce cyclobutanes coupled at the terminal alkenes of component dienes with up to 89% regioselectivity., Competing Interests: DECLARATION OF INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests.