Reports by Haruta et al. on high activity of Au nanoparticles deposited on oxide supports in low temperature CO oxidation, have stimulated in the last decade extensive studies on catalytic properties of gold dispersed on oxides. Beside CO oxidation –an important reaction in protection of environment, and purification of hydrogen for fuel cells from traces of CO- other reactions studied on supported Au catalysts, of great concern in protection of environment and chemical synthesis, include: total oxidation of hydrocarbons, reduction of NO_x, decomposition of N₂O, propene epoxidation, Water Gas Shift reactions.
The literature data on catalysis on nano-gold, will be surveyed, the special attention being paid to oxidation reactions. The methods of the catalyst preparation, ensuring nano dispersion of Au particles will be described.
The results of the authors’ studies on activity of nano-Au on supports of different nature in oxidation of CO and hydrocarbons, will be discussed. The catalysts approached in the latter studies comprise nano-Au dispersed on: a) transition metal, TM oxides (including new, original supports – chromites of TM , and b) oxides of main group elements. It has been found that the nature of the support oxide and its properties (in particular the reducibility) determine the size of Au nanoparticles and the catalytic properties. The catalytic activity in low- temperature CO oxidation is higher when reducible oxides are used as the supports, particularly good performance being observed for easily reduced Au/TM chromites. Nano-Au dispersed on oxides of main group elements catalyse, on the other hand selective oxidation of propene to propanal, ethanal at temperatures higher than ~200^oC.
The factors which affect catalytic performance of Au/oxide support catalysts will be considered, including:
-size of Au particles
-electronic state of Au
-role of the oxide support not only in dispersion of the Au particles but also in different steps of the reaction.

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1. Nano-Au particles and oxide M_xO_y (M=V, Mo, Cr) clusters dispersed on oxide supports in oxidation reactions