Nature Catalysis

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01581-0 The catalytic formation of C–N bonds remains a central challenge in synthetic chemistry owing to the widespread occurrence of amine motifs in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and other bioactive compounds. By merging photoredox and phosphine catalysis, researchers extend the reactivity of P(IV) intermediates to π-sy…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01588-7 DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs) have long tiptoed around fragile DNA. Here, the barcode becomes an asset, enabling enzyme cascades that expand chemical diversity, redefining what ‘DEL compatible’ means.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01583-y Electrocatalytic technologies may need to operate intermittently to maximize economics, switching off when electricity prices are high. This dynamic operation, however, leads to prohibitively accelerated catalyst degradation. Here, a controlled power-down strategy is tested over 750 hours with negligible catalyst d…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01606-8 Solar coproduction in an artificial leaf

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 17 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01601-z Achieving a high selectivity for multicarbon alcohols via electrocatalytic CO2 reduction on copper has proved challenging. Here a nanoconfined catalytic reactor strategy integrates localized CO2 supersaturation, leading to the stabilization of ethoxy intermediates and a 70.3% Faradaic efficiency for ethanol at prac…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 14 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01580-1 The partial oxidation of methane to syngas on Ni is commonly attributed to its metallic phase. Now, by combining in situ spectroscopy and microscopy, as well as density functional theory calculations, specific Ni–O motifs are identified as the active sites on Ni/Al2O3.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 14 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01593-w Photocatalysts can generate radical species from substrates following light excitation. Here the authors report a two-photon bimodal catalysis approach in which the light-activated photocatalyst generates reactive intermediates at opposite redox scales, expanding the accessible redox window.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 14 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01595-8 Methanol electrooxidation on Pt is believed to follow parallel indirect and direct mechanisms, involving CO* or *O*OCH intermediates, respectively. Now operando electrochemical mass spectrometry and theoretical calculations are used to propose an alternative, more prevalent mechanism in which C–O bond cleavage occu…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 13 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01599-4 Understanding nanoscale heterogeneity in electrocatalytic reactions is critical for advancing catalyst design and performance. Now, a single-turnover imaging technique with subparticle resolution, DELINE, is introduced, which enables the mapping of electrocatalytic reactions and is used to probe surface water disso…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01589-6 Intermolecular asymmetric carbonyl–ene-type reactions of unactivated aldehydes and alkenes remain largely unexplored. Now this transformation is achieved by combining confined imidodiphosphorimidate catalysts with an external silicon source to deliver enantioenriched homoallylic alcohols.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 07 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01596-7 Impurities are usually blamed for irreproducible catalysis, but what if, in electrochemistry, they are part of the active material? It is now shown that, in CO2 electroreduction on oxide-derived copper, an uninvited ingredient from a standard bicarbonate electrolyte, Na+, can be incorporated into nanoscale, defect-…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 05 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01594-9 Phosphorothioate modifications are central to oligonucleotide medicines, but their stereocontrolled syntheses has proven challenging. A catalyst-controlled loading strategy now delivers stereodefined building blocks for oligonucleotides and cyclic dinucleotides.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 05 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01557-0 Existing methodologies for the stereocontrolled synthesis of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides and cyclic dinucleotides generally rely on chiral auxiliaries and are not catalytic. This study reports a catalytic asymmetric P(V)-based strategy, enabled by a C2-symmetric multifunctional chiral bis(amidine) organocatal…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 03 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01575-y Understanding catalysis at its core requires more than the concept of the active site: it demands situating the active site within the reaction environment that ultimately governs its behaviour. Progress in catalysis science and engineering will increasingly depend on treating the active site and its environment as…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 31 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01572-1 Constructing reliable models for the discovery of heterogeneous catalysts requires high-quality data. This round-robin study reveals the need for rigorous assessment of uncertainty when selecting the input and output features of data-driven models.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 31 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01559-y This Analysis presents a round-robin study of Rh/TiO2 catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation across four laboratories, quantifying both intralaboratory and interlaboratory variability and discussing the implications of this uncertainty for machine learning predictions.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 31 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01587-8 Small catalytic nucleophiles can promote allylic transfer processes, but achieving regio- and stereocontrol is challenging. Here the authors develop a family of allylic transferase enzymes to mediate diverse C–C and C–N bond formations through the confinement of key intermediates within proteins.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01584-x The roles of cell architecture and mass transport on the selectivity of electrocatalytic CO2 reduction have been challenging to decipher. Here a porous protective layer is used to study the copper-catalysed carbon–carbon coupling step in flow cells, supporting an Eley–Rideal mechanism.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01585-w NiMo-based catalysts exhibit excellent activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline electrolytes, but achieving high stability remains a challenge. Now a synthetic strategy is presented to prepare highly active and stable Ni/MoO2 cathode catalysts for anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 23 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01577-w Chemoenzymatic peptide functionalization requires potent biocatalysts. Now, a rapid screening platform is developed to expand the underexplored diversity of the enzyme family of prenyltransferases, providing a broadly feasible approach to facilitating the discovery of biocatalysts.