The utility of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as an insitu adsorbate probe ofheterogeneous catalytic systems at high gas pressures (here up to 1atm) in conjunction withmass spectrometry (MS) is demonstrated for reactions ontransition-metal catalysts, attemperatures up to 500
C. This simultaneous SERS-MS approachenables the relationshipsbetween the formation of specific adsorbed species (as sensed by SERS)and reaction products(as detected by MS) to be explored on a common (
1 s) time scale.The low-frequency (<1000cm
-1) spectral region, wheremetal-adsorbate vibrations are located, is especiallyinformative.The environmentally important reactions of NO reduction by CO orH
2 and the oxidation ofmethanol on transition metals (Rh, Pd, Pt) are considered here.The possible mechanisticsignificance of surface oxide formation observed during suchambient-pressure catalytic reactionsis also discussed.