The primary interest of this study was to investigate the role of water in benzyl alcohol oxidation over supported gold nanoparticle catalysts. In order to investigate the reaction’s dependence on water, a series of drying studies were conducted by flowing N2 over the catalyst at several temperatures. For both Au/TiO2 and Au/Al2O3 catalysts, reaction rates were found to decrease as the drying temperature increased. Reactivity differences were evaluated more quantitatively by varying the concentration of benzyl alcohol and evaluating the rate data with an active site (Michaelis-Menten) reactivity analysis. Drying the catalyst was found to increase the Michaelis-Menten parameter KR, and decreased nmax. These findings supported the idea that water plays a role in positioning an “active” alkoxide near the Au nanoparticle, primarily functioning as a base to deprotonate the alcohol and/or shuttling protons to and from the metal-support interface.

Role of water in the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol over gold nanoparticle supported catalysts

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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