PNNL

Abstract

Gold, the most stable metallic element, attracted wide attention as a catalyst only after the discovery that gold nanoclusters on oxide supports are highly active and selective for reactions including numerous oxidation,[1–8] hydrogenation,[9–11] hydroamination,[12, 13] ring expansion,[14, 15] and coupling[16, 17] reactions. The catalytic properties of supported gold strongly dependent on the gold–support interactions and the size of the active species, which must be small—typically clusters with diameters of the order of 1 nm.[18–20] Frequent discoveries of new gold-catalyzed reactions are leading the science; understanding has been slow to emerge.[21] Major challenges are to identify the catalytically active species and to characterize gold–support interactions.