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Catalysis using gold is emerging as an important field of research in connection with 'green' chemistry. Several hypotheses have been presented to explain the markedly high activities of Au catalysts. So far, the origin of the catalytic activities of supported Au catalysts can be assigned to the perimeter interfaces between Au nanoclusters and the support. However, the genesis of the catalytic activities of colloidal Au-based bimetallic nanoclusters is unclear. Moreover, it is still a challenge to synthesize Au-based colloidal catalysts with high activity. Here we now present the 'crown-jewel' concept (Supplementary Fig. S1) for preparation of catalytically highly Au-based colloidal catalysts. Au-Pd colloidal catalysts containing an abundance of top (vertex or corner) Au atoms were synthesized according to the strategy on a large scale. Our results indicate that the genesis of the high activity of the catalysts could be ascribed to the presence of negatively charged top Au atoms.

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Bimetallic nanoparticles consisting of gold and platinum were prepared by a citrate reduction method and complementarily stabilized with pectin (CP-Au/Pt). The percent mole ratio of platinum was varied from 0 to 100%. The CP-Au/Pt were alloy-structured. They were well dispersed in water. The average diameter of platinum nanoparticles (CP-Pt) was 4.7 +/- 1.5 nm. Hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) was quenched by CP-Au/Pt consisting of more than 50% platinum whereas superoxide anion radical (O(2)(-)) was quenched by any CP-Au/Pt. The CP-Au/Pt quenched these two reactive oxygen species in dose-dependent manners. The CP-Pt is the strongest quencher. The CP-Pt decomposed H(2)O(2) and consequently generated O(2) like catalase. The CP-Pt actually quenched O(2)(-) which was verified by a superoxide dismutase (SOD) assay kit. This quenching activity against O(2)(-) persisted like SOD. Taken together, CP-Pt may be a SOD/catalase mimetic which is useful for medical treatment of oxidative stress diseases.