DRIFTS experiments such as CO adsorption, CO-TPSR and CO+H.sub.2 were designated to study the effect of Fe promoter on the key steps of C.sub.2 oxygenates formation from syngas. The CO adsorption results demonstrated that Fe weakened CO adsorption and especially the bridging adsorption. It was found in CO-TPSR experiments that the catalyst with lower Fe loading is more easily dissociated while the ones with higher Fe loading own stronger hydrogenation activity. Moreover, it was observed by CO+H.sub.2 experiments that Fe plays a role in stabilizing the lineally adsorbed CO species and decreasing the CO desorption rate. The catalytic performance results indicated that when Fe content is 4wt. %, the selectivity of total C.sub.2 oxygenates is the highest, which was in accordance with the DRIFTS results.