Palladium helps gold catalyst go green

Researchers have developed a catalyst that efficiently converts toluene into a useful industrial intermediate in a much greener process than traditional methods. In the future, the technique could be scaled up for industrial use, they say. 

A team led by Graham Hutchings at Cardiff University in the UK has now converted toluene to benzyl benzoate catalysed by nanoparticles of a gold-palladium (Au-Pd) alloy supported on carbon (Au-Pd/C) or titania (Au-Pd/TiO₂). The reaction, which took place under mild and solventless conditions, showed very high selectivity and generated benzyl benzoate in yields as high as 95 per cent.  More...

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2011/January/13011103.asp