Cooperative Activation of Cellulose with Natural Calcium.

Naturally occurring metals, such as calcium, catalytically activate the intermonomer ß-glycosidic bonds in long chains of cellulose, initiating reactions with volatile oxygenates for renewable applications. In this work, the millisecond kinetics of calcium-catalyzed reactions were measured via the method of the pulse-heated analysis of solid and surface reactions (PHASR) at high temperatures (370-430 °C) to reveal accelerated glycosidic ether scission with a second-order rate dependence on the Ca2+ ions. First-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to identify stable binding configurations for two Ca2+ ions that demonstrated accelerated transglycosylation kinetics, with an apparent activation barrier of 50 kcal mol-1 for a cooperative calcium-catalyzed cycle. The agreement of the mechanism with calcium cooperativity to the experimental barrier (48.7 ± 2.8 kcal mol-1) suggests that calcium enhances the reactivity through a primary role of stabilizing charged transition states and a secondary role of disrupting native H-bonding.

Solvent molecules form surface redox mediators in situ and cocatalyze O2 reduction on Pd.

Solvent molecules influence the reactions of molecular hydrogen and oxygen on palladium nanoparticles. Organic solvents activate to form reactive surface intermediates that mediate oxygen reduction through pathways distinct from reactions in pure water. Kinetic measurements and ab initio quantum chemical calculations indicate that methanol and water cocatalyze oxygen reduction by facilitating proton-electron transfer reactions. Methanol generates hydroxymethyl intermediates on palladium surfaces that efficiently transfer protons and electrons to oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde subsequently oxidizes hydrogen to regenerate hydroxymethyl. Water, on the other hand, heterolytically oxidizes hydrogen to produce hydronium ions and electrons that reduce oxygen. These findings suggest that reactions of solvent molecules at solid-liquid interfaces can generate redox mediators in situ and provide opportunities to substantially increase rates and selectivities for catalytic reactions.