Sustainable manganese catalysis for late-stage C–H functionalization of bioactive structural motifs

• Jongwoo Son

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1733–1751, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.122

• is also oxidized to Mn(III)/L–N3. Azide radical addition to Mn(II)/L to form Mn(III)/L–N3 was considered as a possible route. Concurrently, the photocatalyst is irradiated by blue LED light to induce hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) at the C–H bond of substrate 12, generating alkyl radicals and enabling

• C–N3 bond formation to afford 13 via the reaction with Mn(III)/L–N3. The anodic surface oxidizes the radical adjacent to the hydroxy group of the photocatalyst, thereby regenerating it. At the same time, the hydrogen atom abstraction of radical species of photocatalyst by Mn(III)–N3 could not be

Cerium-photocatalyzed aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols to aldehydes and ketones

• Girish Suresh Yedase,
• Sumit Kumar,
• Jessica Stahl,
• Burkhard König and
• Veera Reddy Yatham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1727–1732, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.121

• , Universitätstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.17.121 Abstract We have developed a cerium-photocatalyzed aerobic oxidation of primary and secondary benzylic alcohols to aldehydes and ketones using inexpensive CeCl3·7H2O as photocatalyst and air oxygen as the terminal oxidant. Keywords: alcohol

• air as the oxidant (Table 1). The best results were found using 10 mol % CeCl3·7H2O as a photocatalyst and 10 mol % of NaHCO3 as a base in CH3CN under blue LED irradiation at 50 °C for 35 h giving compound 2a in 65% isolated yield (Table 1, entry 1). The product formation was reduced upon employing

• and secondary benzylic alcohols were converted into the corresponding aldehydes and ketones in good to moderate yields using commercially available and inexpensive CeCl3·7H2O as a photocatalyst and air as an oxidant. Mechanistic studies. (A): UV–vis spectra of the CeIV(OBn)Cln complex in CH3CN under

Methodologies for the synthesis of quaternary carbon centers via hydroalkylation of unactivated olefins: twenty years of advances

• Thiago S. Silva and
• Fernando Coelho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1565–1590, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.112

• ) [121]. Notably, the organic photocatalyst eosin Y was employed, and the cyclizations proceeded with excellent diastereoselectivity, usually higher than 19:1. When 1,3-ketocarbonyl substrates 100 were employed, the use of a weak Lewis acid (LiBr) was required to accomplish the cyclizations, and no

A comprehensive review of flow chemistry techniques tailored to the flavours and fragrances industries

• Guido Gambacorta,
• James S. Sharley and
• Ian R. Baxendale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1181–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.90

Heterogeneous photocatalytic cyanomethylarylation of alkenes with acetonitrile: synthesis of diverse nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds

• Guanglong Pan,
• Qian Yang,
• Wentao Wang,
• Yurong Tang and
• Yunfei Cai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1171–1180, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.89

• .17.89 Abstract A visible light-mediated heterogeneous photocatalytic cyanomethylarylation of alkenes with acetonitrile has been established using K-modified carbon nitride (CN-K) as a recyclable semiconductor photocatalyst. This protocol, employing readily accessible alkyl N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI

• ]. In the last few years, carbon nitride-based heterogeneous photocatalysts have also been utilized for several other radical-initiated synthetic transformations [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. However, to the best of our knowledge, the application of a CN-based photocatalyst for

• ). Traditional g-C3N4 exhibited a low catalytic activity for this transformation (Table 1, entry 6). Switching from CN-K to a homogeneous organo photocatalyst such as eosin Y and 4CzIPN, led to lower yields of the desired product (Table 1, entries 7 and 8). The expensive Ru/Ir-based metal complexes gave similar

Synthetic reactions driven by electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes

• Zhonglie Yang,
• Yutong Liu,
• Kun Cao,
• Xiaobin Zhang,
• Hezhong Jiang and
• Jiahong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 771–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.67

• has attracted more and more chemists and provided new opportunities for synthetic chemistry [8]. Moreover, diverse photocatalyst-free photochemical reactions have been employed to construct carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds [9]. Among these methods, the product formations by aid of EDA

• construction of C–S bonds C–S bonds are commonly present in amino acids, proteins, glycosides, nucleic acids, and other biological macromolecules. In recent years, photocatalyst- and transition-metal strategies have been employed to construct C–S bonds [66][67][68][69]. The C–S bond synthesis via EDA-complex

• step without any transition-metal catalyst, ligand, or photocatalyst, this method possesses a splendid application prospect. The reaction mechanism is as follows (Scheme 48): Firstly, carbon disulfide combines with N-methylaniline (134) in the presence of Cs2CO3 to form thiolate 136. Thiolate 136 is

Metal-free visible-light-enabled vicinal trifluoromethyl dithiolation of unactivated alkenes

• Xiaojuan Li,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Weigang Zhang,
• Jinzhu Ma,
• Yi Wang and
• Yi Pan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 551–557, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.49

• photocatalyst and KH2PO4 (10 mol %) as the base (Table 1, entry 1). The yield of 4a was not increased when 2 equiv of K2HPO4 were used (Table 1, entry 2) and no difunctionalized product was observed with DMA as the solvent (Table 1, entry 4). The employment of KH2PO4 as base and [Ir(dF(CF3)ppy)2(dtbby)]PF6 as

• the photocatalyst furnished the product in very low yields (Table 1, entries 3 and 5). The control experiments indicated that 4CzIPN, K2HPO4 or visible-light were indispensable for the reaction to proceed (Table 1, entries 6–8). With the optimized reaction conditions determined, we next examined the

Insight into functionalized-macrocycles-guided supramolecular photocatalysis

• Minzan Zuo,
• Krishnasamy Velmurugan,
• Kaiya Wang,
• Xueqi Tian and
• Xiao-Yu Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 139–155, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.15

• between thiol-functionalized β-CD and oleic acid-protected CdS nanocrystals [29]. These spherical CdS–CD nanoparticles could be employed as a photocatalyst for the dehydrogenation of alcohols to aldehydes (at a low concentration of the reactant of 1 mM, ≥92% selectivity) or diols (at a high concentration

• of the reactant of 300 mM, ≥93% selectivity), with H2 liberation being achieved by visible-light irradiation in an aqueous solution. In comparison, CdS–CD was a highly efficient photocatalyst for benzyl alcohol dehydrogenation (77 µmol H2 in 180 h) compared to the CD-free CdS (5.4 µmol H2 in 30 h

• activity (618.3 mmol⋅g−1⋅h−1) and an excellent stability (with a turnover number (TON) of 6417 after 75 h). Moreover, when the electron donor 1,3-dimethyl-2-phenyl-1,3-dihydrobenzimidazole (BIH) was added, the hybrid material functioned as an efficient photocatalyst for the reduction of CO2 to CO with 0.26

Synthesis of tetrafluorinated piperidines from nitrones via a visible-light-promoted annelation reaction

• Vyacheslav I. Supranovich,
• Igor A. Dmitriev and
• Alexander D. Dilman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3104–3108, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.260

• photocatalyst activated by blue light. The annelation is a result of a radical addition at the nitrone, intramolecular nucleophilic substitution, and reduction of the N–O bond. Keywords: difluoroalkylation; nitrones; organofluorine compounds; photocatalysis; radical addition; Introduction Nitrogen-containing

• photocatalyst and stoichiometric quantities (1.2 equiv) of a reducing system (ascorbic acid/collidine). In this reaction no products were formed with reactant 2a remaining unconsumed (Table 1). To obtain a more reactive fluorinated halide, the bromine atom residing at the fluorinated moiety was exchanged for

• in Scheme 3. The iridium(III) photocatalyst under the action of light and ascorbic acid generates the iridium(II) species. The latter serves as a key reducing agent, and importantly, its formation is maintained throughout the process while an excess amount of ascorbate is present. The annelation

Metal-free synthesis of biarenes via photoextrusion in di(tri)aryl phosphates

• Hisham Qrareya,
• Lorenzo Meazza,
• Stefano Protti and
• Maurizio Fagnoni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3008–3014, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.250

• the presence of increasing amounts of TFE (up to 20% v/v, continuous line). Synthesis of biarenes via a) photogenerated triplet aryl cations and aryl radicals (PC = photocatalyst), b) intramolecular free radical ipso substitution, c) thermally catalyzed extrusion of CO and SO2, d) photoinduced

Dawn of a new era in industrial photochemistry: the scale-up of micro- and mesostructured photoreactors

• Emine Kayahan,
• Mathias Jacobs,
• Leen Braeken,
• Leen C.J. Thomassen,
• Simon Kuhn,
• Tom van Gerven and
• M. Enis Leblebici

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2484–2504, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.202

• packed bed reactor so that several microchannels were created among the beads. Glass beads were coated with a TiO2 photocatalyst. The photoreactor was illuminated with 192 LEDs that could provide 100 mW of power each. The distance between the LED board and the reactor was adjusted to give a uniform

• constant. Many photoreactions are heterogeneous, which means that the reaction requires the presence of at least two phases. Heterogeneous reactions require either a solid photocatalyst in a liquid medium or gas and liquid phases as the reactants. The mass transport and mixing gain extra importance in such

• systems. The mass transport is usually represented by the ratio of catalyst surface area to the reaction volume in photocatalytic systems. The photocatalyst could either be mixed with the reactants and fed into the reactor (slurry systems) or immobilized on a reactor surface. Slurry reactors remain the

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• 1 with amine catalyst 3 to give enamine intermediate 4. The initiation step is proposed to be a reductive quench of the photocatalyst using 4 as a sacrificial reductant to give [Ru]•−, which can then reduce 2 to give electrophilic radical 2•. Addition of 2• to another molecule of 4 generates α-amino

• ], electron-deficient arenes [24], and nitriles [25]. Additionally, Cozzi recently applied a novel aluminium-based photocatalyst 9 to this reaction, as an earth-abundant metal alternative albeit with slightly reduced enantioselectivities (8 examples, up to 96:4 er) [26]. Interestingly, as with some other

• reductively quenches the photocatalyst to form enaminyl radical 13•+. However, in this reaction 13•+ can then add to the alkene to give an alkyl radical 14•+, followed by hydrogen atom abstraction from the thiol, acting as a HAT catalyst, to give iminium ion intermediate 15. Hydrolysis of 15 generates the

Photosensitized direct C–H fluorination and trifluoromethylation in organic synthesis

• Shahboz Yakubov and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2151–2192, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.183

• reactions proceed under photoredox catalysis (PRC), involving Dexter electron transfer. Such photoredox reactions begin with the excitation of the photocatalyst (PC) by visible light, followed by a single-electron transfer (SET) between the excited photocatalyst and another molecule (quencher, Scheme 2A

• ). An unfortunate consequence of this is that there are many organic molecules with redox potentials that lie beyond the range of those of the excited photocatalyst [87]. The transiently generated (ultralow concentration of) the excited-state catalyst does not persist long enough even for slightly

• which the excited state photocatalyst participates directly in HAT with the substrate (Scheme 2B), herein termed PHAT [88]. iii) Photochemical reactions where the photosensitization catalyst (PSCat) engages in Dexter energy transfer (typically TTET) with the substrate (or fluorinating reagent) to induce

When metal-catalyzed C–H functionalization meets visible-light photocatalysis

• Lucas Guillemard and
• Joanna Wencel-Delord

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1754–1804, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.147

• , few examples have been reported in which the photoredox process modifies the oxidation state of a catalyst [55][56]. Subsequently, C–H activation protocols benefiting from mild photocatalytic reoxidation have spread rapidly [60][61][62]. In such a case, a photocatalyst (PC) is introduced in the

• that both, the excited Ir photocatalyst and the superoxide anion generated during the transformation, were able to oxidize the low-valent Pd(0) species resulting from the reductive elimination (Figure 6). Under such dual catalysis protocol, various oxidant-sensitive functional groups were tolerated

• -functionalization viewpoint, thus furnishing a large panel of compounds in excellent to good yields. This C–H olefination of arenes was performed under aerobic conditions in order to reoxidize the photocatalyst (Figure 8). Interestingly, the desired products were also delivered while using a stoichiometric amount

Photoredox-catalyzed silyldifluoromethylation of silyl enol ethers

• Vyacheslav I. Supranovich,
• Vitalij V. Levin and
• Alexander D. Dilman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1550–1553, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.126

• )trimethylsilane followed by a reduction of the primary products with sodium borohydride is described. An 18 W, 375 nm LED was used as the light source. The reaction is performed in the presence of a gold photocatalyst, which effects the generation of a (trimethylsilyl)difluoromethyl radical via cleavage of the

• source of hydrogen [21]. We thought that silane 1 could couple with silyl enol ethers in the presence of a photocatalyst affording fluoroalkylation products. Indeed, silyl enol ethers were found to be good acceptors of fluorinated radicals, and the resultant silyloxy-substituted radicals underwent single

• strongly reducing catalysts may be associated with the ability of gold to interact with the bromine atom of silane 1 followed by inner-sphere electron transfer [27]. The radical then attacks silyl enol ether 2, and the subsequent silyloxy-substituted radical is oxidized by the photocatalyst to generate the

Heterogeneous photocatalysis in flow chemical reactors

• Christopher G. Thomson,
• Ai-Lan Lee and
• Filipe Vilela

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1495–1549, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.125

• the molar attenuation coefficient of the photocatalyst (ε), its concentration (c), and the optical path length (l). This also applies to immobilising an HPCat in a flow reactor, which generally confines and concentrates the material within a transparent vessel with high surface-to-volume ratio

• solution, completing the photocatalyst cycle. Charge carriers must overcome competing processes that result in the immobilisation and recombination of charge carriers. The photogenerated electron/hole pair will spontaneously undergo bulk or surface recombination if they cannot efficiently separate, which

• dependent on the temperature and electronic disorder as each hop requires the reorganisation of the molecules in the chain [115]. A particularly popular organic semiconductor photocatalyst in the recent literature is graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) [23]. g-C3N4 was one of the first synthetic polymers

Photocatalyzed syntheses of phenanthrenes and their aza-analogues. A review

• Alessandra Del Tito,
• Havall Othman Abdulla,
• Davide Ravelli,
• Stefano Protti and
• Maurizio Fagnoni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1476–1488, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.123

• photocatalyst, have revolutionized the way chemists can arrive to important chemical scaffolds [24][25][26]. Indeed, the photocatalytic approach combines unparalleled mild conditions, due to the use of photons as traceless reagents that leave no residue behind [27][28], with the exploitation of rather

• heteroarene analogues via the intermediacy of a radical. However, some interesting approaches carried out under photomediated or photocatalyst-free conditions have been likewise included for the sake of completeness. Review 1 Synthesis of phenanthrenes The photocatalyzed synthesis of the phenanthrene skeleton

• -bromochalcones (Scheme 3). Thus, compounds 3.1a–d underwent a one-electron reduction by the excited photocatalyst fac-Ir(ppy)3. Upon bromide anion loss, the α-keto vinyl radicals 3.2·a–d were then formed, which smoothly added onto the vicinal aromatic ring in an intramolecular fashion, affording phenanthrene

An overview on disulfide-catalyzed and -cocatalyzed photoreactions

• Yeersen Patehebieke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1418–1435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.118

• catalytic abilities: they can be a photocatalyst, HAT catalyst, initiator, or cocatalyst in organic synthesis. The thiyl radicals (RS•) formed under illumination conditions have the unique ability of promote radical bond-forming reactions. Their ability to reversibly add to unsaturated bonds, promoting a

• . Huang and co-workers proposed a polar radical crossover cycloaddition mechanism for this Diels–Alder cycloaddition (Scheme 6). The electron transfer from the electron-rich styrene 14 to the activated acridinium photocatalyst 15 oxidizes the styrene 14 to form the styrene radical 16 and the acridine

• radical 17 (Mes–Acr–Ph•). The subsequent reaction of the formed styrene radical 16 with another styrene 18 gives the radical species 19 and the reoxidation of the acridine radical 17 by a thiyl radical, which is generated by the homolysis of diphenyl disulfide, regenerating the photocatalyst. In a

Distinctive reactivity of N-benzylidene-[1,1'-biphenyl]-2-amines under photoredox conditions

• Shrikant D. Tambe,
• Kwan Hong Min,
• Naeem Iqbal and
• Eun Jin Cho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1335–1342, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.114

• -coupled single-electron transfer in the presence of an Ir photocatalyst. On the other hand, symmetrical 1,2-diamines were selectively produced from the same starting materials by the judicious choice of the reaction conditions, showcasing the distinct reactivity of N-benzylidene-[1,1'-biphenyl]-2-amines

• amount of Cy2NMe was critical for achieving selectivity, and less than two equivalents of Cy2NMe gave greater amounts of the homocoupled product 3a (Table 1, entry 10). Control experiments showed that the photocatalyst, amine base, and light source are integral aspects of the reaction (Table 1, entries

• produced the reduced amine product 4a in 67% yield (Scheme 4) [17][18][58][59][60][61]. Based on these observations, a plausible reaction mechanism was proposed for the developed transformation (Scheme 5). Upon visible-light irradiation, the excited photocatalyst [IrIII]* is formed and is reductively

Photocatalytic trifluoromethoxylation of arenes and heteroarenes in continuous-flow

• Alexander V. Nyuchev,
• Ting Wan,
• Borja Cendón,
• Carlo Sambiagio,
• Job J. C. Struijs,
• Michelle Ho,
• Moisés Gulías,
• Ying Wang and
• Timothy Noël

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1305–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.111

• Ir photocatalyst was tested under blue light irradiation, but a poor 10% yield was obtained. Experiments in the absence of photocatalyst under violet or blue light gave respectively 17% and 0% yield. The little product obtained with 400 nm light can be explained by the photodecomposition of 1, which

Oxime radicals: generation, properties and application in organic synthesis

• Igor B. Krylov,
• Stanislav A. Paveliev,
• Alexander S. Budnikov and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1234–1276, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.107

• aromatic (products 88a–d) and aliphatic (products 88e,f) substituents are applicable. Oximes with an isoindoline or tetrahydroisoquinoline fragment also undergo this transformation to give substituted oxadiazolines (products 88g,h). The authors note that T(p-F)PPT plays the role of a photocatalyst that

Photocatalysis with organic dyes: facile access to reactive intermediates for synthesis

• Stephanie G. E. Amos,
• Marion Garreau,
• Luca Buzzetti and
• Jerome Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1163–1187, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.103

• photocatalysts interact with organic molecules via three main pathways: electron transfer (ET), EnT, and atom transfer (AT). In the first case (Scheme 1, box 1), the excited photocatalyst (PC*) undergoes a single-electron transfer (SET) with a suitable electron acceptor A or electron donor D. In an oxidative

• quenching cycle, PC* acts as a reductant donating an electron to A. This generates the oxidized form of the photocatalyst, PC•+, and a reduced acceptor, A•−. Alternatively, in a reductive quenching cycle, PC* acts as an oxidant promoting an SET oxidation of the electron donor D. This leads to the reduced

• photocatalyst PC•− and the oxidized donor D•+. Following this initial SET, a second electron transfer must occur to ensure the catalyst turnover and restore the ground state photocatalyst: PC•+ needs to be reduced by an electron donor D, whereas PC•− needs to undergo an oxidation by an electron acceptor A. In

Recent applications of porphyrins as photocatalysts in organic synthesis: batch and continuous flow approaches

• Rodrigo Costa e Silva,
• Luely Oliveira da Silva,
• Aloisio de Andrade Bartolomeu,
• Timothy John Brocksom and
• Kleber Thiago de Oliveira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 917–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.83

• ) [1][2][3]. This effect limits the penetration of photons to only a short distance into the reaction vessel, provoking increases of the reaction time, photocatalyst loading, byproducts, overheating and so on. Notably, the use of continuous-flow reactors for photochemical applications allows us to

• overcome these issues, and leads to a drastic reduction of reaction time, lower photocatalyst loadings, minimization of the formation of byproducts [2] and uses visible light, which is considered a clean reagent [4]. Overall, visible light combined with organic photocatalysts such as porphyrinoids, make

• standard reduction potentials for the photocatalyst in both ground and excited states [14]. For example, the oxidation potentials for ground [E1/2(TPP+•/TPP)] and excited states [E1/2(TPP+•/TPP*)] of tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP), whose electrochemical data are available [10], are +1.03 V and −0.42 V

A method to determine the correct photocatalyst concentration for photooxidation reactions conducted in continuous flow reactors

• Clemens R. Horn and
• Sylvain Gremetz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 871–879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.78

• Clemens R. Horn Sylvain Gremetz Corning European Technology Center, 7 Bis Avenue de Valvins, F-77215 Avon Cedex, France 10.3762/bjoc.16.78 Abstract When conducting a photooxidation reaction, the key question is what is the best amount of photocatalyst to be used in the reaction? This work

• demonstrates a fast and simple method to calculate a reliable concentration of the photocatalyst that will ensure an efficient reaction. The determination is based on shifting the calculation away from the concentration of the compound to be oxidized to utilizing the limitations on the total light dose that

• facilitate that other factors become more important. Notably, an exact description of the photoflow setup is now crucial to ensure reproducible experiments [20][21]. Results and Discussion The effect of 1 mol % photocatalyst This work was accomplished using the Corning® Advanced-Flowtm Lab Photo Reactor

Aldehydes as powerful initiators for photochemical transformations

• Maria A. Theodoropoulou,
• Nikolaos F. Nikitas and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 833–857, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.76

• presented. Keywords: aldehyde; green chemistry; photochemistry; photoinitiation; sustainable chemistry; Introduction Photochemistry, and especially photoredox catalysis have altered the way that modern researchers treat radical species [1][2][3][4]. In most cases, a metal-based photocatalyst is employed

• -bromobenzaldehyde (96) were also effective as photocatalysts, providing, however, a lower product yield. On the contrary to aromatic aldehydes, benzophenone, which was also tested as a photocatalyst, could promote the reaction only when used in superstoichiometric amounts. This way, 4-anisaldehyde (52) was found to

• UV as the light source and a nickel catalyst [60]. The authors suggested that the product 172, a substituted benzophenone, could act as the photocatalyst and the hydrogen atom transfer agent in this reaction (Scheme 40). They optimized the reaction conditions with regard to the nickel catalyst, the