Catalysis broad: heterogeneous + homogeneous + bio + photo + electro + organo. Sabatier principle, volcano plots, turnover frequency, mechanisms, industrial applications. Distinct from electrocat / surface-chem trees by breadth.
catalysis
Sabatier principle / volcano plots
Sabatier 1911: optimal-catalyst binds reactant moderately — too-weak = no activation, too-strong = poisoning. Volcano-plot of activity vs…
Turnover frequency (TOF) + number (TON)
TOF = mol-product / (mol-active-site × time). TON = total turnovers before deactivation. Universal catalyst-comparison metrics. Boudart…
Ziegler-Natta polymerisation
Ziegler 1953 / Natta 1957 (Nobel 1963). TiCl4 + AlEt3 catalyst for stereoregular-polypropylene. Foundation of stereospecific industrial…
Organocatalysis (List-MacMillan)
List 2000 / MacMillan 2000 (Nobel 2021). Small-organic-molecule catalysts (proline / iminium / NHC) without metals. Asymmetric-catalysis.…
Photoredox catalysis (MacMillan / Yoon)
MacMillan 2008 / Yoon 2008. Visible-light excited Ru/Ir-bipy → SET + radical chemistry. Modern: dual-photoredox-Ni (Doyle / Molander).…
Biocatalysis + enzyme engineering
Cross-listed L3 directed-evolution. Engineered-enzymes for chiral-synthesis (transaminases / KREDs / lipases). Codexis / DBR pipeline.…
Homogeneous catalysis (Tolman cycle)
Tolman 1972: 16-18 e^- catalytic cycle for organometallic catalysis. Wilkinson 1965 hydrogenation; Schrock-Grubbs metathesis (Nobel 2005).…
Heterogeneous catalysis + zeolite shape-selectivity
Zeolite-channel size selects product geometry (M5/M11/MAZ etc). Mobil ZSM-5 1972 methanol-to-gasoline + xylenes. ASA-aluminosilicates.…
Haber-Bosch (catalysis fundamentals)
Haber 1908 / Bosch 1913 (Nobel 1918): N2 + 3H2 → 2NH3 over Fe-K2O catalyst at 400-500 °C, 200 atm. Single-most-important industrial…
Dual-functional / cooperative catalysis
Two catalysts cooperate: Pd-Cu (Ullmann / Sonogashira), Lewis-acid + base (Mukaiyama-aldol), photoredox + Ni (modern dual-cat). Cooperative…
Computational catalyst design (DFT screening)
Nørskov 2002 d-band center model + scaling-relations. DFT-volcano-plots predict optimal-catalysts. CatApp / Mat-API databases. Foundation…
Catalyst deactivation mechanisms
Bartholomew 2001 review: 6 mechanisms — poisoning / fouling / sintering / mechanical / phase-transition / leaching. Industrial cat-life vs…
Sabatier principle (volcano plot, detailed)
Sabatier 1911 / Balandin 1929: optimal catalyst binds intermediate not too weakly + not too strongly; Norskov DFT-volcano-plots predict…
Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism
Langmuir-Hinshelwood 1916-1922: bimolecular surface reaction A* + B* -> P*; rate r = k theta_A theta_B with both adsorbed; classic fast…
Eley-Rideal mechanism
Eley-Rideal 1938: gas-phase A reacts directly with surface-bound B*; rate r = k p_A theta_B; relevant for atomic-hydrogen + radical-surface…
BET isotherm (multilayer adsorption)
Brunauer-Emmett-Teller 1938: extends Langmuir to multilayer; specific-surface-area extraction from N2 isotherm at 77K; ASTM D6556 standard…
Turnover frequency (TOF) Boudart detailed
Boudart 1995: TOF = mol product / (mol active-site * time); industry-standard catalyst-activity figure-of-merit; allows comparison across…
SMSI (Tauster effect)
Tauster-Fung-Garten 1978 strong-metal-support-interaction; reduction-induced overlayer migration TiO2 -> Pt; activity-modulation in…