The effect of applying different types of carbon substances including: Norit^® activated carbon samples with different physical shapes (i.e., powder, granola and granola, which has powdered), Vulcan carbon (V), CMK-3 mesoporous carbon (C₃), CMK-8 mesoporous carbon (C₈) and also NCCR-41 mesoporous carbon (C₄₁) as nanocatalysts support on the catalytic activity of small gold nanoparticles (Au₁₀₁) was studied. These gold nanocatalysts were activated by hot toluene (W) and then heated by constant air flow (S) or under vacuum (V) at 100 °C for 3 h. The highest catalytic activity was exhibited by Au₁₀₁/C₈ (W+S) nanocatalysts at the rate of 96% with approximately 3.3 nm particle size. However, Au₁₀₁/C₄₁ (wash with hot toluene and then heated under vacuum at 100 °C for 3 h) showed the highest selectivity of methyl benzoate as the major product (S%: 88) during a 3 h reaction time with an approximate 2.6 nm gold particle size. It appears that, the type of carbon support can be considered as an important player in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol in the presence of gold nanocatalysts in addition to the type of activation procures

Keywords: Carbon support, gold nanoparticles, benzyl alcohol oxidation, catalytic activation, nanocatalysts

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