In particular it catalyses alkene epoxidation and alcohol oxidation, including the oxidation of biorenewable feedstocks such as glycerol and sugars. Gold is also a highly selective hydrogenation ...

Bromine water is an orange solution of bromine. It becomes colourless when it is shaken with an alkene. Alkenes can decolourise bromine water, but alkanes cannot. The slideshow shows this process.

For example, ethene reacts with water (in the presence of heat and a catalyst) to produce the alcohol ethanol. Addition polymerisation uses addition reactions to turn alkenes into polymers.

Ruth Webster from University of Cambridge wins 2024 AstraZeneca prize in synthetic chemistry for her work on iron catalysis ...