Structure sensitivity in heterogeneous catalysis with noncompetitive adsorption of reactants: Selective oxidation of lignan hydroxymatairesinol to oxomatairesinol over gold catalysts

Structure sensitivity in heterogeneous catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of lignan hydroxymatairesinol (HMR) extracted from Norway spruce knots was investigated over a series of alumina-supported gold catalysts. A mathematical model was developed based on the concept of noncompetitive adsorption of reactants. The model, being consistent with kinetic regularities, such as reaction orders in reactants, explains well the dependence of catalytic activity on the gold cluster size.