Furfural is regarded as one of the most promising bio-based feedstocks in the bio-refinery industry. Selective hydrogenation of the carbonyl bond in furfural plays a vital role in its conversion to downstream products. Electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) method provides a green and sustainable way for this reaction. Yet, it still suffers from harsh pH conditions and low selectivity for highly reduced products, such as 2-methylfuran. In this study, high faradaic efficiencies of over 90% for furfuryl alcohol and 60% for 2-methylfuran were obtained in a near-neutral environment (pH = 5) at −0.75 V and −0.90 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode, respectively. The key to this success is the integration of single atom copper active sites and the oxophilic phosphorus dopants in a single catalyst. Single atom Cu sites are found to be the active centers for this reaction and decreasing the size of Cu sites to a single atom enhances the efficiencies of the ECH reactions by suppressing the competing hydrogen evolution reaction. Phosphorus doping facilitates furfural hydrogenation to 2-methylfuran via a sequential two-step reduction process. This study opens up possibilities for the selective electrochemical hydrogenation of furfural to 2-methylfuran under mild conditions.

Assembly of a silver(I) complex of a simple pyridyl ligand containing a urea derivative is templated by nitrate; analogous complexes of Ag₂SO₄ and AgCF₃SO₃ exhibit radically different geometries.

A series of lanthanum benzoate complexes have been prepared and structurally characterised as DMF or DMSO solvates. The structures of these complexes vary considerably as a function of the steric bulk of the ligands and the degree of solvation. With one exception, all of the complexes form coordination polymers. These experimental results are compared to reported data from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) in order to study the role of sterically bulky substituents in the structures of lanthanum benzoate complexes. Binding modes vary from the η¹ coordination of a carboxylic acid co-ligand to carboxylate ligands adopting a bridging μ-η² : η¹ geometry. The nature of the bridging environment between adjacent lanthanum ions varies significantly in the structures and often several different environments exist within the same structure. Solvent effects are also observed, particularly in cases where the solvent is able to partake in intra- or intermolecular hydrogen bonding.