%0 Journal Article %A Malta, Grazia %A Kondrat, Simon %A Freakley, Simon J. %A Davies, Catherine J. %A Lu, Li %A Dawson, Simon R. %A Thetford, Adam %A Gibson, Emma K. %A Morgan, David J. %A Jones, Wilm %A Wells, Peter P. %A Johnston, Peter %A Catlow, C. Richard A. %A Kiely, Christopher J. %A Hutchings, Graham J. %D 2018 %T Identification of single-site gold catalysis in acetylene hydrochlorination %U https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Identification_of_single-site_gold_catalysis_in_acetylene_hydrochlorination/9390182 %2 https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/ndownloader/files/17003600 %K untagged %K Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified %X 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. %I Loughborough University