Gold nanoclusters supported on different materials as catalysts for the selective alkyne semihydrogenation

[EN] Catalysts based on gold nanoclusters supported by different materials have been used for the selective semi hydrogenation of phenylacetylene to styrene. The most active species were formed by catalyst thermal activation in a reductive atmosphere. It is shown that the activity and selectivity of these catalysts is mainly controlled by the interaction of the gold nanoclusters with the support, as demonstrated by using materials with high surface area and different acidity/basicity, i.e. MgO, Al2O3 and Mg/Al hydrotalcite. There is an important influence of the acid/base properties of the support on the selectivity. Higher activity is obtained for gold supported on basic materials (MgO and hydrotalcite) and the best results are obtained with the Au catalyst supported on the MgAl hydrotalcite exhibiting high activity and the best selectivity to the alkene. This was explained by the intermediate basicity of the support that favors the heterolytic cleavage of H2 while avoiding the overreduction of the alkynes to alkanes.The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through RTI2018-101784-B-I00 (MINECO/FEDER) , PROMETEO/2021/077 and SEV-2016-0683 projects for the financial support. I. Lopez Hernandez is grateful to Generalitat Valenciana and European Social Fund for the pre doctoral grant ACIF2017. We acknowledge support by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) via Single Atom Catalysis (I 4434-N) and Elise Richter (V831-N) .López-Hernández, I.; Truttmann, V.; Barrabés, N.; Rupprechter, G.; Rey Garcia, F.; Mengual Cuquerella, J.; Palomares Gimeno, AE. (2022). Gold nanoclusters supported on different materials as catalysts for the selective alkyne semihydrogenation. Catalysis Today. 394:34-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2022.02.014344039