The latest edition of Chem Soc Rev is a thematic issue guest edited by Professors Graham Hutchings and Hubert Schmidbaur and Dr Mathias Brust investigating gold chemistry and its applications in the areas of materials and catalysis. 

Gold has fascinated mankind since it was first discovered. It has been the source of many beautiful works of art for centuries and it is also a key indicator of the financial status of the world economy. However, for chemists, until recently, gold has presented very little allure owing to its inertness as a bulk metal. Yet, the observation that gold, when sub-divided to the nanoscale can be extremely active as a catalyst, has lately spurred a great number of discoveries.

This fascination with gold catalysis, gold nanoparticles and gold chemistry has prompted an avalanche of research activity. In the past year alone there were over 1200 papers and patents published on the topic of gold catalysis.   

 

This theme issue discusses the current cutting edge research in the field of gold chemistry, and includes 9 critical review and 15 tutorial reviews. The issue highlights achievements in the fields of gold catalysis and gold nanoparticles and discusses the remaining challenges and opportunities. We hope this will be a useful introduction to the area and provide inspiration for further discovery in this fascinating field.

 

Find out more: read the issue now!