Kinetics Studies on Au CO Oxidation Catalysts: Understanding the Effects of Water, Carbonates, and Deuterium on CO Oxidation over Supported Gold Catalysts

CO oxidation over Au/TiO₂ catalysts is shown to depend heavily on the production of surface carboxylates, which poison the reaction.  A large kinetic isotope effect (k_H/k_D =2) indicates that O-H bond scission is a key part of the rate determining step, and that water is required for the reaction mechanism.