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Catalysis by Gold: Recent Advances in Oxidation Reactions

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Nanotechnology in Catalysis

Part of the book series: Nanostructure Science and Technology ((NST))

Abstract

The discovery in the 1980s that finely supported divided nanoparticles of gold could act as catalysts for reactions at lowtemperatures has to be one of the most fascinating recent observations in chemistry, since most consider gold to be an unreactive metal. Gold for a long time had been considered to be a relatively inert material and particularly unpromising as a catalyst. In particular, due to its stability under most conditions it is really surprising that it can be a highly effective oxidation catalyst. Consequently, a large number of experimental and theoretical studies are being undertaken to try to elucidate the nature of this interesting catalytic activity. This recent research has been reviewed by Haruta,1–5 Bond and Thompson,6,7 Bond,8 Thompson,9 Freund and coworkers,10 Cortie,11 Hashmi,12 Hutchings13–15 and Hutchings and Scurrell.16 It should be noted that copper and silver (both in the same triad of the periodic table as gold) are used in many large scale catalytic processes, and it has been known for many years that the preparation of active catalysts with copper and silver requires the metal to be well dispersed on a support. Hence, there should not be so much surprise when the same is observed for gold, but because gold was considered to be inert few experimental studies explored this area until the seminal studies of Haruta17 who discovered the high activity of gold for CO oxidation at sub-ambient temperature. This new discovery brings with it the opportunity that gold, in an appropriate form, is perhaps the most interesting metal in the Periodic Table with respect to table its potential to act as a catalyst.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, CF10 3TB, Cardiff, UK

    Graham J. Hutchings

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  1. Graham J. Hutchings
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Headwaters Nano Kinetix, Inc., 1501 New York Avenue Lawrenceville, 08648, NJ, USA

    Bing Zhou

  2. Research Laboratories Rohm & Haas Company, 727 Norristown Road Spring House, 19477, PA, USA

    Scott Han

  3. Structural and Materials Chemistry School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Highfield, SO17 1BJ, Southampton, UK

    Robert Raja

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Gabor A. Somorjai

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Hutchings, G.J. (2007). Catalysis by Gold: Recent Advances in Oxidation Reactions. In: Zhou, B., Han, S., Raja, R., Somorjai, G.A. (eds) Nanotechnology in Catalysis. Nanostructure Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34688-5_4

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