Activation of atomically precise silver clusters on carbon supports for styrene oxidation reactions

clusters were active for styrene oxidation reactions, with high selectivity towards styrene oxide, without using any promoter. Results show that mild activation at 250 °C yields the most active catalysts, and higher activation temperatures lead to decreased activities and slightly poorer selectivity to styrene oxidation as a result of cluster sintering. EXAFS data shows the resulting activated clusters are composed of Ag metal and that all thiols are removed from the Ag cluster surfaces, though XPS data shows that thiol oxidation products are still present in the sample.