Effect of gold addiction on Pt or Pd catalysts in liquid phase oxidations

Single phase Au-Pd and Au-Pt on carbon catalysts have been compared in the liquid phase oxidation of glycerol (representative for polyols) and n-octanol (representative for long chain aliphatic alcohol). The observed overall enhancement of catalytic activity appeared to be function of support, substrate and reaction conditions. Effect of substrate structure has been disentangled: synergistic effect between Au and Pt was maximized when polyol-like substrates were oxidized whereas Au-Pd based catalyst showed a more general match.