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General methods for the synthesis of chiral difluoromethyl cyclopropanes are challenging to develop, despite the increasing importance of this motif in pharmaceuticals. Now, a copper-catalysed desymmetric difluoromethylation method is reported for the modular synthesis of difluoromethyl cyclopropanes with high efficiency and enantioselectivity.

Despite the importance of difluoromethyl (CF₂H)-bearing centres for pharmaceuticals, there is currently no general strategy for the stereoselective introduction of a CF₂H group at chiral centres. Here the authors describe an enantioconvergent difluoromethylation method for racemic alkyl halides to construct such stereocentres.

The rotation of a carbon double bond in an alkene can be efficiently accelerated by creating the high strain ground state and stabilizing the transition state of the process. Here, the authors report the synthesis, structures, and properties of several highly twisted alkenes.

The activation of propane at mild conditions is challenging. Now a microfluidic reaction system with a Cu microtube serving as both the catalyst and the microchannel reactor can selectively convert propane to propylene at room temperature and ambient pressure.

Electrokinetic results are key to understanding the mechanisms in electrochemical CO reduction reaction. Here, the authors determine mass transport free kinetics using a gas-diffusion electrode and identified dependence of copper surface speciation on the electrolyte pH using in situ surface enhanced spectroscopies.

The activation of light alkanes under mild conditions is a challenging task. Now the conversion of alkanes into the corresponding olefins and oxygenates is achieved in solution using Cu powder at ambient temperature and pressure.

While the electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to highly reduced products is unique to copper, there are still gaps in understanding copper catalysts’ efficacy. Here, authors find that co-electrolysis of CO₂ with O₂ can enhance copper’s catalytic activities.

Compounds that contain alkyl-difluoromethyl moieties are of interest for medicinal chemistry, but their synthesis is challenging. Here, the authors report a copper-catalyzed radical relay approach for the carbodifluoromethylation of alkenes that simultaneously introduces CF₂H groups and complex alkyl or aryl groups into alkenes.

Carbon dioxide can be electrocatalytically reduced to valuable fuels and chemicals, but is hindered by poor catalytic efficiency and selectivity. Here the authors report improved electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into methane using a tandem catalysis strategy.