Provided are a transition metal compound including a novel carbene compound as a ligand, a preparation method thereof, and an application thereof. The transition metal compound according to the present invention may form a structurally stable complex and also have a HOMO-LUMO energy gap and singlet-triplet transition energy which are significantly low as compared with a conventional transition metal compound. In addition, according to the present invention, the transition metal compound may be synthesized in large quantities by a very simple method, thereby having high commercial utility, and thus, an application using the compound is expected.

Methods for catalyzing CH insertion reactions using heme enzymes are described. The present disclosure provides a method for producing a CH insertion product comprising providing an substrate having an sp.sup.3-hybridized CH bond, a carbene precursor such as a diazo reagent, and a heme enzyme, and admixing the components in a reaction for a time sufficient to produce the CH insertion product. Heme enzyme variants useful for carrying out in vivo and in vitro CH insertion reactions, as well as expression vectors and host cells expressing the heme enzymes, are also described.

An oxidative homocoupling method of synthesizing certain 2,2-bithiophenes from thiophenes using oxygen as the terminal oxidant is disclosed. In non-limiting examples, the method uses oxygen along with a catalytic system that includes palladium, an assistive ligand, and a non-palladium metal additive to catalyze one of the following reactions:

##STR00001##

Associated catalytic systems and compositions are also disclosed.

Methods of synthesizing compounds using CO.sub.2 as a directing group for CH functionalization, and compounds made thereby, are described.

This disclosure relates to compositions comprising diruthenium catalysts and uses related thereto. In certain embodiments, the diruthenium catalyst comprises a cyclopropyl ring substituted with a carboxylic acid ligand. In certain embodiments, the diruthenium catalyst comprises an N-(sulfonyl)pyrrolidine ring substituted with a carboxylic acid ligand. In certain embodiments, the diruthenium catalyst comprises a 2-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)acetic acid ligand. In certain embodiments, this disclosure relates to methods of using catalysts in chemical transformations disclosed herein.

The present invention relates in part to the unexpected discovery of novel complexes capable of catalyzing the selective dehydrogenative coupling of olefins. The invention further relates to the use of these complexes for the selective coupling of olefins.

Precatalysts of formula I and IV, and processes for the functionalization of SP2-carbons using the same are described herein. The precatalysts comprise a fluoroborate salt protected intramolecular frustrated lewis pair (FLP). The precatalysts are bench stable with improved stability towards moisture and/or air. The precatalysts can be used to generate in situ the corresponding FLP catalyst.

Compositions and methods of use related to metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and/or nanoparticles are generally described. In some embodiments, methods and compositions for the catalytic upgrading of alcohols using MOFs and/or nanoparticles associated with MOFs are generally described. In some embodiments, a catalytic MOF composition is provided, wherein the MOF composition comprises a MOF compound and a plurality of metal catalytic compounds. In some embodiments, an alcohol may be exposed to the MOF composition and/or a plurality of nanoparticles associated with the MOF composition such that the alcohol is converted to a higher order alcohol. Advantageously, in some embodiments, the alcohol conversion occurs at a relatively high turnover frequency and/or with a relatively high selectivity as compared to traditional methods for converting alcohols.

Processes for producing an ,-unsaturated carboxylic acid, such as acrylic acid, or a salt thereof, using treated solid oxides are disclosed. The treated solid oxides can be calcined solid oxides, metal-treated solid oxides, or metal-treated chemically-modified solid oxides, illustrative examples of which can include sodium-treated alumina, calcium-treated alumina, zinc-treated alumina, sodium-treated sulfated alumina, sodium-treated fluorided silica-coated alumina, and similar materials.

The present disclosure relates to a metal catalyst for CH bond activation and/or CN coupling reaction, and a method using the same and application thereof. Specifically, a metal catalyst represented by the following formula:

##STR00001##

wherein
Q is a 5 or 6 membered aromatic ring;
W, X, and Y are the same or different, and are independently N, S, P, or O;
M is Ni, Pd, Fe, Co, Cr, Mn, Cu, Pt, Ir, or Ru;
Z is halide (F, Cl, Br, or I), acetate, water, or hydroxyl;
R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are the same or different, and are independently alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl or cycloalkyl.