Synthesis of Gold Catalysts Supported on Mesoporous Silica Materials: Recent Developments

Mesoporous silica materials (MSM) with ordered and controllable porous structure, high surface area, pore volume and thermal stability are very suitable catalyst supports, because they provide high dispersion of metal nanoparticles and facilitate the access of the substrates to the active sites. Since the conventional wet-impregnation and deposition-precipitation methods are not appropriate for the incorporation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) into MSM, considerable efforts have been made to develop suitable methods to synthesize Au/MSM catalysts, because the incorporation of AuNPs into the channel system can prevent their agglomeration and leaching. In this review, we summarize the main methods to synthesize active gold catalysts supported on MSM. Examples and details of the preparative methods, as well as selected applications are provided. We expect this article to be interesting to researchers due to the wide variety of chemical reactions that can be catalyzed by gold supported catalysts.