This project will address the formation and scavenging of reactive and thermodynamically unstable intermediates without a C-C bond, which can be formed from C1 molecules, specifically natural gas or biogenic feedstocks, through the precise positioning for their formation and scavenging functions. The intermediate of interest is formic acid (HCOOH) formed in situ from CO/H2O mixtures on metals and oxides that catalyze selective HCOOH dehydration, and thus its microscopic reverse. Subsequent HCOOH dehydrogenation would lead to the formation of H2 and CO2, thus completing a water-gas shift turnover without requiring interfacial contact among functions, or use the H2, after desorption or directly from HCOOH, in transfer hydrogenation reactions.