There is a critical need for improved methane-oxidation catalysts to both reduce emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas, and improve the performance of gas turbines. However, materials that are currently available either have low activity below 400°C or are unstable at higher temperatures. Here, we describe a supramolecular approach in which single units composed of a palladium (Pd) core and a ceria (CeO(2)) shell are preorganized in solution and then homogeneously deposited onto a modified hydrophobic alumina. Electron microscopy and other structural methods revealed that the Pd cores remained isolated even after heating the catalyst to 850°C. Enhanced metal-support interactions led to exceptionally high methane oxidation, with complete conversion below 400°C and outstanding thermal stability under demanding conditions.

The gram-scale synthesis, stabilization, and characterization of well-defined ultrasmall subnanometric catalytic clusters on solids is a challenge. The chemical synthesis and X-ray snapshots of Pt clusters, homogenously distributed and densely packaged within the channels of a metal-organic framework, is presented. This hybrid material catalyzes efficiently, and even more importantly from an economic and environmental viewpoint, at low temperature (25 to 140 °C), energetically costly industrial reactions in the gas phase such as HCN production, CO methanation, and alkene hydrogenations. These results open the way for the design of precisely defined catalytically active ultrasmall metal clusters in solids for technically easier, cheaper, and dramatically less-dangerous industrial reactions.

In humans and other mammals, it is known that calcium and phosphate ions are secreted from the distal small intestine into the lumen. However, why this secretion occurs is unclear. Here, we show that the process leads to the formation of amorphous magnesium-substituted calcium phosphate nanoparticles that trap soluble macromolecules, such as bacterial peptidoglycan and orally-fed protein antigens, in the lumen and transport them to immune cells of the intestinal tissue. The macromolecule-containing nanoparticles utilize epithelial M cells to enter Peyer’s patches - small areas of the intestine concentrated with particle-scavenging immune cells. In wild type mice, intestinal immune cells containing these naturally-formed nanoparticles expressed the immune tolerance-associated molecule ‘programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)’, whereas in NOD1/2 double knock-out mice, which cannot recognize peptidoglycan, PD-L1 was undetected. Our results explain a role for constitutively formed calcium phosphate nanoparticles in the gut lumen and how this helps to shape intestinal immune homeostasis.

The assumption that oxidative addition is the key step during the cross-coupling reaction of aryl halides has led to the development of a plethora of increasingly complex metal catalysts, obviating in many cases the exact influence of the base, the simplest, inexpensive and necessary reagent for this paramount transformation. Here, a combined experimental and computational study shows that the oxidative addition is not any more the controlling step during different cross-coupling reactions if catalyzed by ligand-free sub-nanometer Pd or Pt clusters, translating reactivity control to subtle changes in the base, i.e. acetate drives to the Heck, carbonate to the Sonogahira and phosphate to the Suzuki reaction. For that, the exposed metal atoms in the cluster cooperate to enable an extremely easy oxidative addition of the aryl halide, even chlorides, and allows the base to bifurcate the coupling. This base-controlled orthogonal reactivity with ligand-free catalysts open new avenues in the design of cross-coupling reactions in organic synthesis.

A lot of interesting and sophisticated examples of nanoparticle (NP) self-assembly (SA) are known. From both fundamental and technological standpoints this field requires advancements in three principle directions: a) understanding the mechanism and driving forces of three-dimensional (3D) SA with both nano- and micro-levels of organization; b) understanding of disassembly/deconstruction processes; and c) finding synthetic methods of assembly into continuous superstructures without insulating barriers. From this perspective, we investigated the formation of well-known star-like PbS superstructures and found a number of previously unknown or overlooked aspects that can advance the knowledge of NP self-assembly in these three directions. The primary one is that the formation of large seemingly monocrystalline PbS superstructures with multiple levels of octahedral symmetry can be explained only by SA of small octahedral NPs. We found five distinct periods in the formation PbS hyperbranched stars: 1) nucleation of early PbS NPs with an average diameter of 31 nm; 2) assembly into 100–500 nm octahedral mesocrystals; 3) assembly into 1000–2500 nm hyperbranched stars; 4) assembly and ionic recrystallization into six-arm rods accompanied by disappearance of fine nanoscale structure; 5) deconstruction into rods and cubooctahedral NPs. The switches in assembly patterns between the periods occur due to variable dominance of pattern–determining forces that include vander Waals and electrostatic (charge-charge, dipole-dipole, and polarization) interactions. The superstructure deconstruction is triggered by chemical changes in the deep eutectic solvent (DES) used as the media. PbS superstructures can be excellent models for fundamental studies of nanoscale organization and SA manufacturing of (opto)electronics and energy harvesting devices which require organization of PbS components at multiple scales.

The realization of materials at the nanometer scale creates new challenges for quantitative characterization and modeling as many physical and chemical properties at the nanoscale are highly size and shape-dependent. In particular, the accurate nanometrological characterization of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) is crucial for understanding their optical response that is determined by the collective excitation of conduction electrons, known as localized surface plasmons. Its manipulation gives place to a variety of applications in ultrasensitive spectroscopies, photonics, improved photovoltaics, imaging, and cancer therapy. Here we show that by combining electron tomography with electrodynamic simulations an accurate optical model of a highly irregular gold NP synthesized by chemical methods could be achieved. This constitutes a novel and rigorous tool for understanding the plasmonic properties of real three-dimensional nano-objects.

Metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) promise great rewards in terms of metal atom efficiency. However, the requirement of particular conditions and supports for their synthesis, together with the need of solvents and additives for catalytic implementation, often precludes their use under industrially viable conditions. Here, we show that palladium single atoms are spontaneously formed after dissolving tiny amounts of palladium salts in neat benzyl alcohols, to catalyze their direct aerobic oxidation to benzoic acids without ligands, additives, or solvents. With this result in hand, the gram-scale preparation and stabilization of Pd SACs within the functional channels of a novel methyl-cysteine-based metal−organic framework (MOF) was accomplished, to give a robust and crystalline solid catalyst fully characterized with the help of single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD). These results illustrate the advantages of metal speciation in ligand-free homogeneous organic reactions and the translation into solid catalysts for potential industrial implementation.Article pubs.acs.org/JACS

The several factors that render certain kinds of nanoporous oxidic solids valuable for the design of a wide range of new heterogeneous catalysts are outlined and exemplified. These factors include: (i), their relative ease of preparation, when both mesoporous siliceous frameworks (ca. 20 to 250 A diameter pores) and microporous framework-substituted aluminophosphates (ca. 4 to 14 A diameter pores) can be tailored to suit particular catalytic needs according to whether regiospecific or enantio- or shape-selective conversions are the goal; (ii), the enormous internal (three-dimensional) areas that these nanoporous solids possess (typically 10(3) m(2) g(-1)) and the consequential ease of access of reactants through the internal pores of the solids; (iii), the ability, by judicious solid-state preparative methods to assemble spatially isolated, single-site active centres at the internal surfaces of these open-structure solids, thereby making the heterogeneous catalyst simulate the characteristic features of homogenous and enzymatic catalysts; (iv), the wide variety of in situ, time-resolved and ex situ experimental techniques, coupled with computational methods, that can pin-point the precise structure of the active site under operating conditions and facilitate the formulation of reaction intermediates and mechanisms. Varieties of catalysts are described for the synthesis (often under environmentally benign and solvent-free conditions) of a wide range of organic materials including commodity chemicals (such as adipic and terephthalic acid), fine and pharmaceutical chemicals (e.g. vitamin B(3)), alkenes, epoxides, and for the photocatalytic preferential destruction of carbon monoxide in the presence of hydrogen. Nanoporous oxidic solids are ideal materials to investigate the phenomenology of catalysis because, in many of them, little distinction exists between a model and a real catalyst.