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Young and Emerging European Researchers in Catalysis

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A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 18245

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Francesco Zaccaria

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Perugia, via Elce di Sotto 8, I-06123 Perugia, Italy
Interests: kinetic and mechanistic understanding of catalytic processes mediated by organometallic complexes; olefin oligo- and polymerization; water oxidation; (de)hydrogenation catalysis

Dr. Martin Lamac

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Guest Editor

Czech Academy of Sciences, J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, v.v.i., Dolejškova 2155/3, 18223 Prague 8, Czech Republic
Interests: synthesis of organometallic compounds with potential applications in catalysis; coordination chemistry of early transition metals, functionalized metallocene and related derivatives

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The 21st century is and will be characterized by major societial transformations that, now more than ever, need to be driven by scientific and technological advancements. The role of catalysis in addressing this challenge is crucial, and the contribution of young generations of scientists is essential to shape the future of this field. The European community of young chemists, in particular, is actively involved in promoting catalysis as a key technology, encouraging innovative collaborations and knowledge sharing.

This Special Issue is intended to provide an overview of the research activities carried out in Europe by young and emerging scientists working in catalysis. Contributions from all subfields are encouraged, including both experimental and computational works, with the aim to show a multidisciplinary collection of the recent achievements of future leaders in catalysis.

Dr. Francesco Zaccaria
Dr. Martin Lamac
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

young chemists
societal challenges
multidisciplinary catalysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3688 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Competitive O-Acetylserine Sulfhydrylase Inhibitor Modulates the Formation of Cysteine Synthase Complex

by Marialaura Marchetti, Francesco Saverio De Angelis, Giannamaria Annunziato, Gabriele Costantino, Marco Pieroni, Luca Ronda, Andrea Mozzarelli, Barbara Campanini, Salvatore Cannistraro, Anna Rita Bizzarri and Stefano Bettati

Catalysts 2021, 11(6), 700; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11060700 - 31 May 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2317

Abstract

Cysteine is the main precursor of sulfur-containing biological molecules in bacteria and contributes to the control of the cell redox state. Hence, this amino acid plays an essential role in microbial survival and pathogenicity and the reductive sulfate assimilation pathway is considered a promising target for the development of new antibacterials. Serine acetyltransferase (SAT) and O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase (OASS-A), the enzymes catalyzing the last two steps of cysteine biosynthesis, engage in the formation of the cysteine synthase (CS) complex. The interaction between SAT and OASS-A finely tunes cysteine homeostasis, and the development of inhibitors targeting either protein–protein interaction or the single enzymes represents an attractive strategy to undermine bacterial viability. Given the peculiar mode of interaction between SAT and OASS-A, which exploits the insertion of SAT C-terminal sequence into OASS-A active site, we tested whether a recently developed competitive inhibitor of OASS-A exhibited any effect on the CS stability. Through surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, we (i) determined the equilibrium constant for the Salmonella Typhimurium CS complex formation and (ii) demonstrated that the inhibitor targeting OASS-A active site affects CS complex formation. For comparison, the Escherichia coli CS complex was also investigated, with the aim of testing the potential broad-spectrum activity of the candidate antimicrobial compound. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Young and Emerging European Researchers in Catalysis)

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15 pages, 1630 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Highly Selective Toluene Oxidation to Benzaldehyde

by Francesca Valentini, Giacomo Ferracci, Pierluca Galloni, Giuseppe Pomarico, Valeria Conte and Federica Sabuzi

Catalysts 2021, 11(2), 262; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11020262 - 15 Feb 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4922

Abstract

Thanks to the well-recognized role of benzaldehyde in industry, nowadays the research of new and sustainable approaches to selectively synthesize such an interesting product is receiving great attention from the chemists’ community. In this paper, a V-based catalytic biphasic system is adopted to perform toluene oxidation to benzaldehyde. Importantly, to pursue sustainability, organic solvents have been avoided, so toluene is used as substrate and co-solvent, together with water. Also, the use of hydrophobic ionic liquids has been explored. To perform oxidation, NH₄VO₃ catalyst, H₂O₂, and a safe and inexpensive co-catalyst are used. Among the tested co-catalysts, KF and O₂ were found to be the best choice, to guarantee good yields, in mild reaction conditions. In fact, with such a sustainable method, up to 30% of benzaldehyde can be obtained at 60 °C and, more interestingly, the oxidative system can be recharged, raising-up the yield. The entire process results highly selective, since no traces of benzyl alcohol or benzoic acid are detected. Hence, it constitutes a very appealing synthetic route, even suitable to be easily scaled-up at an industrial level. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Young and Emerging European Researchers in Catalysis)

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Graphical abstract

12 pages, 2138 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Selective Oxidation of Citronellol over Titanosilicate Catalysts

by Daifallah Aldhayan, Květa Kalíková, Mohammed Rafi Shaik, Mohammed Rafiq H. Siddiqui and Jan Přech

Catalysts 2020, 10(11), 1284; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal10111284 - 05 Nov 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2361

Abstract

Citronellol is one of the most widely used fragrances for bouquetting purposes and it is a starting material for synthesis of several other terpenoids. Nevertheless, few data have been reported on citronellol selective oxidation. Accordingly, we report our findings on the selective oxidation of citronellol with hydrogen peroxide using a set of titanosilicate catalysts with different morphologies and textural properties—conventional titanium silicalite 1 (TS-1), mesoporous TS-1, layered TS-1 and silica-titania pillared TS-1 and also studying the effect of the solvent used. Epoxidation of C6=C7 double bond was the main primary reaction in this system and trace signals of C5 allylic oxidation products were observed without formation of citronellal. Due to the presence of post-synthesis introduced additional Ti sites, the silica-titania pillared TS-1 (TS-1-PITi) provided the highest conversion among the tested catalysts; nevertheless, citronellol was oxidized over all the studied catalysts including conventional TS-1; therefore, showing that it penetrates even into MFI micropores (0.55 nm in diameter). When using acetonitrile as a solvent, the conversion was proportional to the titanium content of the catalyst. When studying the effect of the solvent, acetonitrile provided the highest epoxide selectivity (55%) while in methanol, 2-propanol and 1,4-dioxane, ring opening reactions caused epoxide decomposition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Young and Emerging European Researchers in Catalysis)

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Review

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17 pages, 20982 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Chain Transfer to Solvent and Monomer in Early Transition Metal Catalyzed Olefin Polymerization: Mechanisms and Implications for Catalysis

by Francesco Zaccaria, Peter H. M. Budzelaar, Cristiano Zuccaccia, Roberta Cipullo, Alceo Macchioni, Vincenzo Busico and Christian Ehm

Catalysts 2021, 11(2), 215; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11020215 - 05 Feb 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3660

Abstract

Even after several decades of intense research, mechanistic studies of olefin polymerization by early transition metal catalysts continue to reveal unexpected elementary reaction steps. In this mini-review, the recent discovery of two unprecedented chain termination processes is summarized: chain transfer to solvent (CTS) and chain transfer to monomer (CTM), leading to benzyl/tolyl and allyl type chain ends, respectively. Although similar transfer reactions are well-known in radical polymerization, only very recently they have been observed also in olefin insertion polymerization catalysis. In the latter context, these processes were first identified in Ti-catalyzed propene and ethene polymerization; more recently, CTS was also reported in Sc-catalyzed styrene polymerization. In the Ti case, these processes represent a unique combination of insertion polymerization, organic radical chemistry and reactivity of a M(IV)/M(III) redox couple. In the Sc case, CTS occurs via a σ-bond metathesis reactivity, and it is associated with a significant boost of catalytic activity and/or with tuning of polystyrene molecular weight and tacticity. The mechanistic studies that led to the understanding of these chain transfer reactions are summarized, highlighting their relevance in olefin polymerization catalysis and beyond. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Young and Emerging European Researchers in Catalysis)

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Graphical abstract

26 pages, 2635 KiB

Open AccessReview

Lignocellulose Biomass as a Multifunctional Tool for Sustainable Catalysis and Chemicals: An Overview

by Maria Luisa Testa and Maria Laura Tummino

Catalysts 2021, 11(1), 125; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11010125 - 15 Jan 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3713

Abstract

Today, the theme of environmental preservation plays an important role within the activities of the scientific community and influences the choices of politics and the common population. In this context, the use of non-fossil substances should be promoted for different reasons: to avoid the depletion and damage of the areas involved in the fossil fuel extraction, decrease the impact of emissions/by-products related to the industrial transformation of fossil-based products and possibly exploit residual biomasses as sources of carbon. This latter aspect also can be viewed as a way to revalorize lignocellulose waste, generally destined to dump as putrescible matter or to be incinerated. In this review, we are aiming to present a concise overview of the multiple functions of lignocellulose biomass in the broad field of catalysis for a sustainable development. The originality of the approach is considering the lignocellulose-derived matter in three different aspects: (i) as a precursor to convert into platform molecules, (ii) as an active material (i.e., humic-like substances as photosensitizers) and (iii) as a green support for catalytic applications. We find that this perspective can widen the awareness level of scientists involved in the catalysis field for the exploitation of residual biomass as a valuable and complementary resource. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Young and Emerging European Researchers in Catalysis)

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