Open AccessCover Picture: The Guerbet Reaction Network – a Ball‐in‐a‐Maze‐Game or: Why Ru‐MACHO‐BH is Poor in Coupling two Ethanol to n‐Butanol (Chemistry ‐ Methods 4/2021)
Author(s) -
Ohligschläger Andreas,
Staalduinen Nils,
Cormann Carsten,
Mühlhans Jan,
Wurm Jan,
Liauw Marcel A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemistry ‐ methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
ISSN - 2628-9725
DOI - 10.1002/cmtd.202100026
Subject(s) - catalysis , chemistry , redox , front cover , ethanol , butanol , ball (mathematics) , cover (algebra) , organic chemistry , mathematics , engineering , geometry , mechanical engineering
The Front Cover shows a playable version of the homogeneously catalyzed Guerbet‐coupling from ethanol to n ‐butanol. The 2D ball‐in‐a‐maze‐game is shown here because the reaction steps are either performed in presence of a redox catalyst (top‐down) or in presence of a base (left‐right). Both axes can be moved independently from each other and substances are connected with humps in the height of the activation barrier. Playing the game repeatedly for a defined time and writing down the outcomes (see blackboard) yields the composition of the reaction mixture at a given time. Alas, the highly active redox catalyst Ru‐MACHO shows unsatisfying yields and selectivities of n ‐butanol. But why? More information can be found in the Full Paper by Andreas Ohligschläger et al.