Interaction of ethylene glycol with clean and oxidized surfaces of an Ag catalyst has been studied under pre-catalysis conditions. On a clean surface, ethylene glycol was reversibly adsorbed with the formation of a multilayer coverage. Adsorbed ethylene glycol weakly bonded to the oxidized silver surface leads to the selective formation of glyoxal via two parallel routes: dehydrogenation and oxidation. Dissociative interaction of ethylene glycol with Ag led to the appearance of formaldehyde and carbon dioxide by-products.
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