Following the creation of active gold nanocatalysts from phosphine-stabilized molecular clusters

Kilmartin, J., Sarip, R., Grau-Crespo, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8845-1719, Di Tommaso, D., Hogarth, G., Prestipino, C. and Sankar, G. (2012) Following the creation of active gold nanocatalysts from phosphine-stabilized molecular clusters. ACS Catalysis, 2 (6). pp. 957-963. ISSN 2155-5435 doi: 10.1021/cs2006263

Abstract/Summary

The phosphine-stabilised gold cluster [Au6(Ph2P-o-tolyl)6](NO3)2 is converted into an active nanocatalyst for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol through low-temperature peroxide-assisted removal of the phosphines, avoiding the high-temperature calcination process. The process was monitored using in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy, which revealed that after a certain period of the reaction with tertiary butyl hydrogen peroxide, the phosphine ligands are removed to form nanoparticles of gold which matches with the induction period seen in the catalytic reaction. Density functional theory calculations show that the energies required to remove the ligands from the [Au6Ln]2+ increase significantly with successive removal steps, suggesting that the process does not occur at once but sequentially. The calculations also reveal that ligand removal is accompanied by dramatic re-arrangements in the topology of the cluster core.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/36082
Identification Number/DOI	10.1021/cs2006263
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
Publisher	American Chemical Society
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