Chemists find the σ-hole reason gold catalysts work

Researchers have devised what may be the first physical explanation for a key feature of how gold nanoparticle catalysts work. Scientists already knew gold nanoparticles’ unique catalytic properties come because they bind Lewis base reactant molecules, which feature an electron pair, at their edges and corners. But now calculations from Joakim Halldin Stenlid’s and Tore Brinck’s groups at KTH Royal Institute of Chemistry in Stockholm, Sweden, indicate how the metal’s electrons drive this effect.