Selective hydrogenation of unsaturated carbonyl compounds over an oxidized gold–zirconium alloy

Abstract

An oxidized amorphous Au–Zr alloy showed high selectivities for partial hydrogenation of unsaturated carbonyl compounds to unsaturated alcohols, contrasting with their low catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of unsaturated to saturated alcohols; the active sites of this catalyst are modified gold rather than impurities since the amounts of impurities present were too small (<80 p.p.m.) to show hydrogenation activity.