Using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock for commodity synthesis is an attractive means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a possible stepping-stone towards renewable synthetic fuels. A major impediment to synthesizing compounds from CO2 is the difficulty of forming carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds efficiently: although CO2 reacts readily with carbon-centred nucleophiles, generating these intermediates requires high-energy reagents (such as highly reducing metals or strong organic bases), carbon-heteroatom bonds or relatively acidic carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds. These requirements negate the environmental benefit of using CO2 as a substrate and limit the chemistry to low-volume targets. Here we show that intermediate-temperature (200 to 350 degrees Celsius) molten salts containing caesium or potassium cations enable carbonate ions (CO3(2-)) to deprotonate very weakly acidic C-H bonds (pKa > 40), generating carbon-centred nucleophiles that react with CO2 to form carboxylates. To illustrate a potential application, we use C-H carboxylation followed by protonation to convert 2-furoic acid into furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA)--a highly desirable bio-based feedstock with numerous applications, including the synthesis of polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF), which is a potential large-scale substitute for petroleum-derived polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Since 2-furoic acid can readily be made from lignocellulose, CO3(2-)-promoted C-H carboxylation thus reveals a way to transform inedible biomass and CO2 into a valuable feedstock chemical. Our results provide a new strategy for using CO2 in the synthesis of multi-carbon compounds.

An intramolecular reaction catalyzed by Rh porphyrins was studied in the presence of interfacial electric fields. 1-Diazo-3,3-dimethyl-5-phenylhex-5-en-2-one (2) reacts with Rh porphyrins via a putative carbenoid intermediate to form cyclopropanation product 3,3-dimethyl-5-phenylbicyclo[3.1.0]hexan-2-one (3) and insertion product 3,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4(1H)-one (4). To study this reaction in the presence of an interfacial electric field, Si electrodes coated with thin films of insulating dielectric layers were used as the opposing walls of a reaction vessel, and Rh porphyrin catalysts were localized to the dielectric-electrolyte interface. The charge density was varied at the interface by changing the voltage across the two electrodes. The product ratio was analyzed as a function of the applied voltage and the surface chemistry of the dielectric layer. In the absence of an applied voltage, the ratio of 3:4 was approximately 10:1. With a TiO2 surface, application of a voltage induced a Rh porphyrin-TiO2 interaction that resulted in an increase in the 3:4 ratio to a maximum in which 4 was nearly completely suppressed (>100:1). With an Al2O3 surface or an alkylphosphonate-coated surface, the voltage caused a decrease in the 3:4 ratio, with a maximum effect of lowering the ratio to 1:2. The voltage-induced decrease in the 3:4 ratio in the absence of TiO2 was consistent with a field-dipole effect that changed the difference in activation energies for the product-determining step to favor product 4. Effects were observed for porphyrin catalysts localized to the electrode-electrolyte interface either through covalent attachment or surface adsorption, enabling the selectivity to be controlled with unfunctionalized Rh porphyrins. The magnitude of the selectivity change was limited by the maximum interfacial charge density that could be attained before dielectric breakdown.

Problem solved: An air‐stable 2‐pyridyl borane that can effectively couple to a wide range of aryl and heteroaryl halides and pseudohalides has evaded the synthesis community for decades. The discovery that Cu(DEA)2 powerfully enables palladium‐mediated cross‐couplings with air‐stable boronates 1 has finally provided a general solution to this problem. DEA=diethanolamine, DMF=N,N′‐dimethylformamide, Tf=trifluoromethanesulfonyl.

Lignin is one of the most promising sources of renewable aromatic hydrocarbons. Current methods for its extraction from lignocellulosic biomass-which include the kraft, sulfite, and organosolv processes-result in the rapid formation of carbon-carbon bonds, leading to a condensed lignin that cannot be effectively depolymerized into its constituent monomers. Treatment of lignocellulosic biomass with aldehydes during lignin extraction generates an aldehyde-stabilized lignin that is uncondensed and can be converted into its monomers at near-theoretical yields. Here, we outline an efficient, reproducible, and scalable process for extracting and purifying this aldehyde-stabilized lignin as a solid, which can easily be re-dissolved in an organic solvent. Upon exposure to hydrogenolysis conditions, this material provides near-theoretical yields of aromatic monomers (~40-50% of the Klason lignin for a typical hardwood). Cellulose and hemicellulose are also efficiently fractionated. This protocol requires 6-7 h for the extraction of the stabilized lignin and a basic proficiency in synthetic chemistry.

2-Furoic acid is converted to furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid in high yield on a mole scale using carbonate-promoted C–H carboxylation.

A wide range of 2-pyridyl and other difficult-to-access heterocyclic N-methyliminodiacetic acid boronates can be readily prepared from the corresponding bromides via a new method involving direct transligation of trialkoxyborate salts with MIDA at elevated temperatures.

We explore the selective electrocatalytic hydrogenation of lignin monomers to methoxylated chemicals, of particular interest, when powered by renewable electricity. Prior studies, while advancing the field rapidly, have so far lacked the needed selectivity: when hydrogenating lignin-derived methoxylated monomers to methoxylated cyclohexanes, the desired methoxy group (−OCH 3 ) has also been reduced. The ternary PtRhAu electrocatalysts developed herein selectively hydrogenate lignin monomers to methoxylated cyclohexanesmolecules with uses in pharmaceutics. Using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and in situ Raman spectroscopy, we find that Rh and Au modulate the electronic structure of Pt and that this modulating steers intermediate energetics on the electrocatalyst surface to facilitate the hydrogenation of lignin monomers and suppress C−OCH 3 bond cleavage. As a result, PtRhAu electrocatalysts achieve a record 58% faradaic efficiency (FE) toward 2-methoxycyclohexanol from the lignin monomer guaiacol at 200 mA cm −2 , representing a 1.9× advance in FE and a 4× increase in partial current density compared to the highest productivity prior reports. We demonstrate an integrated lignin biorefinery where wood-derived lignin monomers are selectively hydrogenated and funneled to methoxylated 2-methoxy-4-propylcyclohexanol using PtRhAu electrocatalysts. This work offers an opportunity for the sustainable electrocatalytic synthesis of methoxylated pharmaceuticals from renewable biomass.

Problem gelöst: Ein luftstabiles 2‐Pyridylboran, das mit einem breiten Spektrum von Aryl‐ und Heteroaryl(pseudo)halogeniden kuppelt, hatte sich der Synthesechemie jahrzehntelang entzogen. Die Entdeckung, dass [Cu(DEA)2] Palladium‐vermittelte Kreuzkupplungen mit luftstabilen Boronaten 1 ermöglicht, lieferte endlich eine allgemeine Lösung für dieses sehr wichtige Problem. DEA=Diethanolamin, DMF=N,N′‐Dimethylformamid, Tf=Trifluormethansulfonyl.