Aerobic oxidation of glucose over gold nanoparticles deposited on cellulose Original Research Article

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) with mean diameters of around 2 nm could be deposited directly onto a bio-polymer, cellulose, by the solid grinding method with volatile dimethyl Au(III)acetylacetonate followed by the reduction with H2. Gold NPs on cellulose showed appreciably high catalytic activity with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 11 s−1 for the aerobic oxidation of glucose to produce sodium gluconate at 60 °C and at pH 9.5. The catalytic activity of Au/cellulose was comparable to that of Au/C provided the size of the Au particles was similar.