Metal oxides are as or more efficient than gold or platinum as catalysts for certain chemical reactions with alkynes

https://phys.org/news/2021-11-inexpensive-catalysts-enabling-noble-metal.html

"Alkynes are hydrocarbons that contain carbon-carbon triple bonds. They are among the basic building blocks of organic chemistry. For the desired industrial reactions, the triple bond must be activated in a special, so-called soft, manner. So far, this has been observed primarily in reactions with catalysts based on precious metals... With our new approach, we can mimic the interaction of gold and alkyne species at the electron level"

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