Thermal control of the defunctionalization of supported Au(glutathione) catalysts for benzyl alcohol oxidation.

Au(SG) (SG - glutathione) clusters deposited on ZrO nanoparticles have been used as a catalyst for benzyl alcohol oxidation. Calcination was performed at different temperatures to study the ligand and particle size effect on the catalytic activity. In contrast to most gold nanoclusters which have to be completely defunctionalized for maximum catalytic activity, the partially defunctionalized Au(SG)@ZrO catalyst, thermally treated at 300 °C, exhibits full conversion of benzyl alcohol within 15 h under atmospheric pressure with 94% selectivity towards benzaldehyde.