The use of biomass as raw-material for obtaining chemicals, polymers and fuels is emerging as a clever alternative solution for the increasing energy demand, environmental awareness and petroleum shortage. In this work, some attempts in order to develop catalytic systems suitable for triglyceride transformation into fuels, polymers and intermediates are reviewed

The sputtering of Au targets onto castor oil generates stable spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of 2.4 to 3.8 nm. The AuNP size increases with the discharge voltage and the mechanism of nucleation and growth are related to the energy of the atoms/clusters ejected from the target.