and obtained her degree in Pharmacology in 1999. She has received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Moscow, Russia, with Professor Yuri N. Belokon'. She had a predoctoral stay at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences with Dr. C. Grela. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2003, she joined the group of Professor Ben L. Feringa at the University of Groningen as a postdoc. Her work was focused on enantioselective catalysis, mechanistic studies, and total synthesis, in particular using asymmetric conjugate addition. In 2007 she obtained the position of research scientist at Tibotec BVBA, a division of Johnson & Johnson in Belgium. Tim den Hartog was born in 1982, and he studied at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to obtain his degree in Organic Chemistry in 2005. He is currently performing his graduate studies in the Feringa Group at the University of Groningen in the field of asymmetric catalysis. His research focuses primarily on asymmetric conjugate addition. Koen Geurts was born in 1975, and he studied at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and obtained his degree in Organic Chemistry in 2002. He is currently finishing his graduate studies in the Feringa Group at the University of Groningen in the field of asymmetric catalysis. His thesis focuses primarily on asymmetric allylic alkylation. He has recently accepted a position as a chemical development engineer within SABIC Europe.

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Ruthenium-triphos complexes exhibited unprecedented catalytic activity and selectivity in the redox-neutral C-C bond cleavage of the β-O-4 lignin linkage of 1,3-dilignol model compounds. A mechanistic pathway involving a dehydrogenation-initiated retro-aldol reaction for the C-C bond cleavage was proposed in line with experimental data and DFT calculations.

Methane, which has a high energy storage density and is safely stored and transported in our existing infrastructure, can be produced through conversion of the undesired energy carrier H 2 with CO 2 . Methane production with standard transition-metal catalysts requires high-temperature activation (300–500 °C). Alternatively, semiconductor metal oxide photocatalysts can be used, but they require high-intensity UV light. Here, we report a Ru metal catalyst that facilitates methanation below 250 °C using sunlight as an energy source. Although at low solar intensity (1 sun) the activity of the Ru catalyst is mainly attributed to thermal effects, we identified a large nonthermal contribution at slightly elevated intensities (5.7 and 8.5 sun) resulting in a high photon-to-methane efficiency of up to 55% over the whole solar spectrum. We attribute the excellent sunlight-harvesting ability of the catalyst and the high photon-to-methane efficiency to its UV–vis–NIR plasmonic absorption. Our highly efficient conversion of H 2 to methane is a promising technology to simultaneously accelerate the energy transition and reduce CO 2 emissions.

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Cu-TolBINAP-catalyzed conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to 4-chloro-α,β-unsaturated esters, thioesters, and ketones leads to 4-chloro-3-alkyl-substituted thioesters and ketones in up to 84% yield and up to 96% ee upon protonation of the corresponding enolates at low temperature. Tandem conjugate addition-enolate trapping, however, yields trans-1-alkyl-2-substituted cyclopropanes in up to 92% yield and up to 98% ee. The versatility of this reaction is illustrated by the formation of key intermediates for the formal syntheses of cascarillic acid and grenadamide.

Plasmon catalysis is an interesting technology concept for powering chemical processes with light. Here, we report the use of various Al2O3‐supported Ru spheroidal nanoparticles as catalyst for the low‐temperature conversion of CO2 and H2 to CH4 (Sabatier reaction), using sunlight as energy source. At high loadings of Ru spheroidal nanoparticles (5.9 % w/w), we observe a sharp increase in the rate of the sunlight powered reaction when compared to the reaction in dark at the same catalyst bed temperature. Based on our results we exclude plasmon coupling as cause, and attribute the rate enhancement to collective photothermal heating of the Al2O3‐supported Ru nanoparticles.

Nickel was identified as a catalyst for the cyclopropanation of unactivated olefins by using in situ generated lithiomethyl trimethylammonium triflate as a methylene donor. A mechanistic hypothesis is proposed in which the generation of a reactive nickel carbene explains several interesting observations. Additionally, our findings shed light on a report by Franzen and Wittig published in 1960 that had been retracted later owing to irreproducibility, and provide a rational basis for the systematic development of the reaction for preparative purposes as an alternative to diazomethane or Simmons-Smith conditions.