Generation of gold nanoclusters encapsulated in an MCM-22 zeolite for the aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane

[EN] In this work, we will report the generation of Au clusters in a purely siliceous MCM-22 zeolite. The catalytic properties of these Au clusters have been tested for the selective oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone (KA-oil). The Au clusters encapsulated in the MCM-22 zeolite are highly active and selective for the oxidation of cyclohexane to KA-oil, which is superior to Au nanoparticles on the same support. These results suggest that Au clusters are highly active for the activation of oxygen to produce radical species.This work has been supported by the European Union through the European Research Council (grant ERC-AdG-2014-671093, SynCatMatch) and the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Program" (SEV-2016-0683). The authors also thank the Microscopy Service of UPV for kind help with TEM and STEM measurements. Mr J. A. Gaona is greatly acknowledged for his very helpful assistance on the catalytic studies. The XAS data were acquired at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The HAADF-HRSTEM studies were conducted in the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA) at the Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA)-Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain), Spanish ICTS National facility. R. A. gratefully acknowledges the support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through project grant MAT2016-79776-P (AEI/FEDER, UE).Liu, L.; Arenal, R.; Meira, DM.; Corma Canós, A. (2019). Generation of gold nanoclusters encapsulated in an MCM-22 zeolite for the aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane. Chemical Communications. 55(11):1607-1610. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cc07185c160716105511Claus, P. (2005). Heterogeneously catalysed hydrogenation using gold catalysts. Applied Catalysis A: General, 291(1-2), 222-229. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2004.12.048Hashmi, A. S. K., & Hutchings, G. J. (2006). Gold Catalysis. 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