Interstitial Carbon Dopant in Palladium-Gold Alloy Boosting the Catalytic Performance in Vinyl Acetate Monomer Synthesis.

Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), an important chemical intermediate in industry, is produced by the well-established commercial process of acetoxylation of ethylene with Pd-Au/SiO and a KOAc promoter. No paper has since decades defined the true effects of Au and KOAc, despite numerous attempts to clarify them. The role of subsurface carbon as a catalyst booster for enhanced catalytic performance in VAM synthesis was found by us for the first time.