A review of the use of gold catalysts in selective hydrogenation reactions Lynsey McEwana

The field of gold catalysis has been a lively area of research for the past two decades and gold catalysts are now an established ‘best choice’ for many oxidation reactions. Most well known for its performance in selective and preferential oxidation reactions, gold has more recently found potential in selective hydrogenation reactions. In this work the recent developments using gold and gold-promoted catalysts for selective hydrogenation reactions are reviewed: the use for chemoselective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and, in particular, the excellent selectivity exhibited for the selective partial hydrogenation of alkyne, alkadiene and alkene C2–C6 hydrocarbon streams.