Progress towards the commercial application of gold catalysts

Now that gold catalysis is a valuable and exciting new field of catalysis as a whole, the exploitation of gold catalysts for commercial applications is being pursued. This is being assisted by new work on preparation and utilization methods to increase their durability during use. Other factors, including a substantial increase in investment in gold catalysis R&D, need to be considered before widespread application will occur. We show that new opportunities for commercial exploitation can be monitored via patent mapping, followed by careful examination of key patents.