Abstract
In this work the influence of the lanthanide series oxide addition to gold supported alumina catalyst is discussed. A clear promoting effect was observed no matter the employed reaction. Nevertheless, the presence of hydrogen in the oxidation mixture reveals interesting dissimilarities within the series of studied oxides. The differences in the catalytic behaviour of the samples are correlated to the crystal structure variations, oxygen sub-lattice disorder, gold presence and oxide's ability to undergo hydration/dehydration reactions.