Catalysts
A catalyst is a substance whose presence increases the rate of a chemical reaction. The exercise of using catalysts is called catalysis. Today the vast majority of all commercially important chemical reactions involve catalysts, especially in the fields of energy production, petrochemicals manufacture, pharmaceuticals synthesis, and environmental protection.
History
Catalysis was practiced long before it was recognized as a scientific discipline. The earliest example of catalytic reactions was in the generation of alcoholic beverages through biocatalysis dating from the Neolithic Age. About 2,500 years ago a base-catalyzed (potash lye) process was used to manufacture soap in the Mediterranean area. Although the details are not known, in the 1500s alchemists claimed to have prepared sulfuric acid (sulfuric ether and oil of vitriol they called it) by a mysterious process that would probably be classified as a heterogeneous catalytic reaction today.
During the first third of the nineteenth century, several systematic observations led researchers to conclude that the mere presence of metals induced chemical transformations in fluids that would otherwise not have occurred. Early on, Thenard had observed that ammonia could be decomposed when passed through a red-hot porcelain tube, but only if the tube contained iron, copper, silver, gold, or platinum.
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