Enzyme-mimicking peripheral substituents beyond the second coordination sphere tune single-atom catalysts for periodate activation
Sijia Jin, Xiaofeng Tang, Zhiqiao He, Shuang Song, Yaqi Cai, Haiyan Zhang, Bo Lai, Tao Zeng · 2026
Read Enzyme-mimicking peripheral substituents beyond the second coordination sphere tune single-atom catalysts for periodate activation by Sijia Jin, Xiaofeng Tang, Zhiqiao He, Shuang Song, Yaqi Cai, Haiyan Zhang, Bo Lai, Tao Zeng (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13680503.txt.
Description
Sijia Jin and co-authors borrow a trick from enzymes to tune single-atom catalysts, in this 2026 paper. In natural enzymes, pockets far from the active site steer its chemistry. The team built iron single-atom catalysts with swappable outer groups, fluorine, hydrogen, or an amine, and used them to activate periodate for water cleanup.
The fluorine version won. Its pull on electrons tightened the iron's grip on periodate and sped a direct electron-transfer route that stitches pollutants into polymers rather than shredding them with radicals. A fluorine-coated membrane ran durably in flow, and a pilot reactor cleaned real wastewater without leaking iodate.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Sijia Jin, Xiaofeng Tang, Zhiqiao He, Shuang Song, Yaqi Cai, Haiyan Zhang, Bo Lai, Tao Zeng |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 75 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |