Hydrogenation over supported gold catalysts

Hydrogenation by gold catalysts: an unexpected discovery and a current assessment

“…We believe however it was the observation [4] by Yates that H 2 spillover from metal to support occurred on Au/SiO 2 that alerted us to its potential, and because of our interest in this process, P.A. Sermon and I were led to examine the interaction of HAuCl 4 with Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 surfaces [5][6][7]. Our success in forming materials with significant catalytic activity for hydrogenation, and our demonstration that this was due to the presence of extremely small gold particles strongly suggests that previous failures to observe chemisorption or useful catalysis were caused by the use of the metal either in the massive state or as too large particles.…”

Hydrogenation over gold catalysts: The interaction of gold with hydrogen

“…Gold catalyzes various hydrogenation reactions such as the hydrogenation of alkenes (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12), alkadiens (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) alkynes (13,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), , -unsaturated carbonyl compounds and nitro compounds (47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53). In contrast to traditional hydrogenation catalysts such as platinum, palladium or ruthenium, which require modification, it often shows remarkable selectivities when multiple functional groups are present.…”

Communication: Chemisorption of muonium on gold nanoparticles: A sensitive new probe of surface magnetism and reactivity

“…4 Another important application is in catalysis, especially for hydrogenation reactions. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Although well studied, the magnetic properties of gold nanoparticles are very controversial. While bulk gold is diamagnetic, theories predict and recent studies report ordered magnetism in GNPs.…”