Gold catalysis has potential for multiphase oxidation using molecular oxygen but hitherto has been evaluated only in batch autoclaves. The use of continuous flow structured reactors for the oxidation of glycerol under mild conditions using a gold/carbon catalyst is demonstrated. Both monolith and meso-scale structured downflow slurry bubble column designs lead to a significant enhancement in the reaction rate over autoclave studies which is an order

MgO was used for the first time as a heterogeneous basic catalyst to synthesize b-keto-1,3-dithianes, potentially useful synthetic intermediates, from conjugated ynones and ynoates.

CeO2 has been prepared from an acetate precursor by an antisolvent precipitation technique using supercritical CO2. The supercritically synthesized ceria support was used to prepare Au-Pd based catalysts for the selective oxidation of alcohols in solvent-free conditions using molecular oxygen as oxidant. The supercritically precipitated catalyst demonstrated high activity for alcohol oxidation, and it was much more active than catalysts prepared

A series of MgO catalysts have been prepared by calcination of (MgCO3)4Mg(OH)2 and these have been found to be effective for the transesterification of triglycerides with methanol at 200 C. The calcination temperature controls the surface area, porosity and the surface structure and we observe that the optimal calcination temperature is in the range 550-700 C as this provides a balance between high surface area, and hence high concentration of

We report a pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) spectroscopic study of the effective diffusivity of alcohols in catalysts comprising gold supported on silica, titania and ceria and gold-palladium alloy nanoparticles supported on titania. These catalysts are shown to be highly active for the selective oxidation of alcohols. However, we observe that molecules possessing hydroxyl functional groups in the 2-position exhibit very

Selective oxidation of primary carbon-hydrogen bonds with oxygen is of crucial importance for the sustainable exploitation of available feedstocks. To date, heterogeneous catalysts have either shown low activity and/or selectivity or have required activated oxygen donors. We report here that supported gold-palladium (Au-Pd) nanoparticles on carbon or TiO2 are active for the oxidation of the primary carbon-hydrogen bonds in toluene and related molecules,

1. Abstract Recently, there has been a marked increase in the interest shown in catalysis by gold. It is now recognised that gold has unique properties as a catalyst for many reactions with pre-eminence in the oxidation of carbon monoxide. However, it is also known that supported gold catalysts can be used for other reactions involving carbon monoxide, for example the water gas shift reaction. Supported gold catalysts have also been shown to be effective

Selective oxidation is of key importance in the synthesis of chemical intermediates. For many years a number of oxides and supported metal catalysts have been used. The key questions involved in the design of selective oxidation catalysts are discussed in the initial part of this paper. One of the most exciting recent developments in the field of selective oxidation has been the discovery that supported gold catalysts are active. The second part

The oxidation of benzyl alcohol with molecular oxygen under solvent-free conditions has been investigated using a range of titania-supported Au–Pd alloy catalysts to examine the effect of the Au–Pd ratio on the conversion and selectivity. The catalysts have been compared at high reaction temperature (160 °C) as well as at 100 °C, to determine the effect on selectivity since at lower reaction temperature the range of by-products that are formed

The effect of Au doping on a 10%Co/TiO2 Fischer–Tropsch catalyst has been investigated by varying the amount of Au (0.2–5 wt.%) added to the catalyst. Addition of Au to the 10%Co/TiO2 system improved the cobalt dispersion on the catalyst surface and shifted the reduction temperature for the cobalt oxides in interaction with the support to lower temperatures. The catalyst activity for FT reaction increased with an increase in Au loading and passed