2134/33205 Grazia Malta Grazia Malta Simon Kondrat Simon Kondrat Simon J. Freakley Simon J. Freakley Catherine J. Davies Catherine J. Davies Li Lu Li Lu Simon R. Dawson Simon R. Dawson Adam Thetford Adam Thetford Emma K. Gibson Emma K. Gibson David J. Morgan David J. Morgan Wilm Jones Wilm Jones Peter P. Wells Peter P. Wells Peter Johnston Peter Johnston C. Richard A. Catlow C. Richard A. Catlow Christopher J. Kiely Christopher J. Kiely Graham J. Hutchings Graham J. Hutchings Identification of single-site gold catalysis in acetylene hydrochlorination Loughborough University 2018 untagged Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified 2018-05-30 13:27:32 Journal contribution https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Identification_of_single-site_gold_catalysis_in_acetylene_hydrochlorination/9390182 There remains considerable debate over the active form of gold under operating conditions of a recently validated gold catalyst for acetylene hydrochlorination.We have performed an in situ x-ray absorption fine structure study of gold/carbon (Au/C) catalysts under acetylene hydrochlorination reaction conditions and show that highly active catalysts comprise single-site cationic Au entities whose activity correlates with the ratio of Au(I):Au(III) present. We demonstrate that these Au/C catalysts are supported analogs of single-site homogeneous Au catalysts and propose a mechanism, supported by computational modeling, based on a redox couple of Au(I)-Au(III) species.