Formic acid was catalytically synthesized from carbon dioxide and hydrogen by a combination of group VIII transition-metal complexes and bases in the presence of water far less than the equivalent amount of the catalyst.

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Polar orange pigments were extracted from the cultured cells of marine bacterium strain SD-212 and purified by chromatographic methods. The structures of two new trihydroxy-keto-carotenoids, (2R,3S,3'S)-2-hydroxyastaxanthin (1) and (2R,3S,3'R)-2-hydroxyadonixanthin (2) were determined by means of spectral methods. Known carotenoids (3S,2'R,3'R)-erythroxanthin (3), (2R,3S',2' R,3'S)-2,3,2',3'-tetrahydroxy-β,β-carotene-4,4'-dione (4), (2R,3S,2'R,3'R)-2,3,2',3'-tetrahydroxy-β,β-caroten-4-one (5), (3S,3'S)-astaxanthin (6), and (3S,3'R)-adonixanthin (7) were also isolated.