Themed collection How can chemistry adapt to a low carbon future

This perspective provides a new look into how electrolyte structure at the interface controls the kinetics of water reduction.

This article outlines the recent advances in catalyst design for controlling C–C coupling in syngas conversion, CO₂ hydrogenation and CO₂ electroreduction from the viewpoint of surface science.

From carbon fixation, Grignard reaction, metal-catalyzed reactions and asymmetric CO₂-incorporation, what would be the ideal CO₂-functionalization?

The derivatization and covalent modification of biomass derived platform chemicals expand the biomass derived chemical spaces allowing for the preparation of new bioactive molecules and materials.

1-Hydroxy-2,5-hexanedione, obtained in good yield from renewable 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, is a versatile building block for a variety of new compounds.

This critical review discusses the thermal and photocatalytic mechanisms of one-, two-, four-, six- and eight-electron reduction of CO₂ with metal complex catalysts.

Renewable materials, viz. cellulose, chitin, chitosan and cyclodextrins are promising alternatives to petroleum-based feedstocks for CO₂ sequestration.

This work reports an economical and environmentally friendly, external hydrogen-free method for the selective cleavage of lignin and lignin model compounds into value-added chemicals.

We show flux melting by using a liquid MOF as a solvent for a secondary, non-melting MOF component.

CO₂ capture at low concentration by catalysts is potentially useful for developing photocatalytic and electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction systems.

The present work established the metal-free approach to capture CO₂ from air and its reduction into alternative fuel under ambient conditions.

The electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂RR) to valuable bulk chemicals is set to become a vital factor in the prevention of environmental pollution and the selective storage of sustainable energy.

Two reductive polyoxometalate (POM)-based heterogeneous photo-catalysts display highly selective CO₂-to-CH₄ conversion in water.

We report novel structure–activity relationships and explore the chemical state and structure of catalytically active sites under operando conditions during the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) catalyzed by a series of porous iron–nitrogen–carbon (FeNC) catalysts.

H₂ generation using a Ni catalyst on dye-sensitised CuCrO₂ highlights the benefits of using delafossite semiconductors for solar fuel production.

Judicious choice of framework structure allows for single CO₂ adsorption steps with bulky primary,secondary diamines appended to metal–organic frameworks.

We demonstrate the first enzymatic hydrogenation of 2-hexenedioic acid and muconic acid to adipic acid using enoate reductases (ERs).

Hydrazine can be grafted in CPO-27-Mg/MOF-74-Mg to provide an ultrahigh concentration of amine groups on the pore surface, giving an exceptionally high CO₂ capture performance, especially at extremely low pressures.

Fullerene molecules were connected to form fullerene-based PAFs. The porous structure could adsorb H₂ and exhibit some selectivity of CO₂.

A carbon catalyst prepared by air oxidation of woody biomass hydrolyses woody biomass, and the reaction residue is transformed back to the catalyst by the same air oxidation method.

Understanding the activity and selectivity of molecular catalysts for CO₂ reduction to fuels is an important scientific endeavour in addressing the growing global energy demand.