Gold on carbon: influence of support properties on catalyst activity in liquid-phase oxidation

Gold-on-carbon catalysts have been prepared from a preformed metallic phase ( metal sol). Using, as the support, active carbons of different microstructure and surface properties, we found that each carbon affected differently the reactivity of the same gold particle in a standard liquid-phase oxidation, indicating that a specific metal support interaction does exist, probably connected to the density of phenolic groups at the surface.