Benchmarking is a community-based and (preferably) community-driven activity involving consensus-based decisions on how to make reproducible, fair, and relevant assessments. In catalysis science, important catalyst performance metrics include activity, selectivity, and the deactivation profile, which enable comparisons between new and standard catalysts. Benchmarking also requires careful documentation, archiving, and sharing of methods and measurements, to ensure that the full value of research data can be realized. Beyond these goals, benchmarking presents unique opportunities to advance and accelerate understanding of complex reaction systems by combining and comparing experimental information from multiple, in situ and operando techniques with theoretical insights derived from calculations characterizing model systems. This Perspective describes the origins and uses of benchmarking and its applications in computational catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, molecular catalysis, and electrocatalysis. It also discusses opportunities and challenges for future developments in these fields.

The activation of several types of carbon–fluorine bonds in alkanes, arenes and olefins, using the early transition metal complex Cp*₂ZrH₂, are described. Fluoroalkanes are reduced to alkanes. Alkyl and and even aryl adducts containing β-fluorines undergo β-fluorine elimination. Evidence is presented that α-fluorine elimination is also possible, and occurs in Cp*₂Zr(CF₃)H. The studies include mechanistic investigations, which show evidence for a variety of pathways depending on the specific substrate.