Programming Reaction-Network Bifurcations for Selective Amino Acid Electrosynthesis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review

Contributors

  • Chaofan Wan - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Panzhe Qiao - , CAS - Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (Author)
  • Ying Zhou - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Li Li - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Max Planck Institute of Micostructure Physics (Author)
  • Xiaodong Li - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Yan Fang - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Jie Ding - , Max Planck Institute of Micostructure Physics (Author)
  • Wei Chen - , City University of Hong Kong (Author)
  • Xianbiao Fu - , National University of Singapore (Author)
  • Lingyue Liu - , Max Planck Institute of Micostructure Physics (Author)
  • Zheng Jiang - , CAS - Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (Author)
  • Wenhua Zhang - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Xinliang Feng - , Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Chair of Molecular Functional Materials (gB MPI-MSP), Max Planck Institute of Micostructure Physics (Author)
  • Yongfu Sun - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Jinlong Yang - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)
  • Yi Xie - , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) (Author)

Abstract

Electrosynthesis of organic amino acids from inorganic nitrogen feedstocks offers a new route to expand the synthetic boundaries of biologically relevant C–N molecules. However, the desired organic C–N coupling pathway is kinetically suppressed by the competing inorganic ammonia (NH3) pathway, rendering selective amino acid electrosynthesis intrinsically challenging. Here, we uncover that this bottleneck originates from the uncontrollable gatekeeping intermediate, hydroxylamine (*NH2OH), at the decisive branching point. To address this challenge, we develop a new programmable reaction-network bifurcation (PRNB) strategy, enabled by an atomically precise dual-site metallene, which directs the reaction bifurcation of *NH2OH from hydrogenation to C–N coupling. As a result, the system reverses the product selectivity, allowing the coupling product to outperform NH3 by a factor of 28.5. This shift further achieves glycine synthesis with a high Faradaic efficiency of 83.2% and a formation rate exceeding 885 mmol/gcat/h, sustained over 225 h and enabling gram-scale synthesis. Mechanistic studies reveal that dual sites reprogram the relative bonding preference of *NH2OH, making C–N coupling dominant for oxime formation. In situ spectroscopy and kinetic isotope measurements further reveal that dual sites reorganize an ordered interfacial H2O network that lowers the hydrogen-transfer barrier by more than half, enabling rapid oxime hydrogenation and high-rate glycine production. The efficient synthesis of diverse amino acids, including alanine, glutamate, and leucine, further underscores PRNB as a general paradigm for controlling reaction-network bifurcations in complex chemical synthesis.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)32528-32541
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume148
Issue number30
Publication statusPublished - 5 Aug 2026
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 42463978