catalyst: Types and Importance of Catalysts

Enzymes: Natural Catalysts

Enzymes are the commonest and most efficient of the catalysts found in nature. Most of the
chemical reactions that occur in the human body and in other living things are high-energy
reactions that would occur slowly, if at all, without the catalysis provided by enzymes. For
example, in the absence of catalysis, it takes several weeks for starch to hydrolyze to glucose; a
trace of the enzyme ptyalin, found in human saliva, accelerates the reaction so that starches can
be digested. Some enzymes increase reaction rates by a factor of one billion or more.
Enzymes are generally specific catalysts; that is, they catalyze only one reaction of one particular
reactant (called its substrate). Usually the enzyme and its substrate have complementary
structures and can bond together to form a complex that is more reactive due to the presence
of functional groups in the enzyme, which stabilize the transition state of the reaction or lower
the activation energy. The toxicity of certain substances (e.g., carbon monoxide and the nerve
gases) is due to their inhibition of life-sustaining catalytic reactions in the body.

Laboratory and Industrial Catalysts

Catalysis is also important in chemical laboratories and in industry. Some reactions occur faster
in the presence of a small amount of an acid or base and are said to be acid catalyzed or base
catalyzed. For example, the hydrolysis of esters is catalyzed by the presence of a small amount of
base. In this reaction, it is the hydroxide ion, OH  , that reacts with the ester, and the
−

concentration of the hydroxide ion is greatly increased over that of pure water by the presence of
the base. Although some of the hydroxide ions provided by the base are used up in the first part
of the reaction, they are regenerated in a later step from water molecules; the net amount of
hydroxide ion present is the same at the beginning and end of the reaction, so the base is thought
of as a catalyst and not as a reactant.
Finely divided metals are often used as catalysts; they adsorb the reactants onto their surfaces
(see adsorption ), where the reaction can occur more readily. For example, hydrogen and oxygen
gases can be mixed without reacting to form water, but if a small amount of powdered platinum
is added to the gas mixture, the gases react rapidly. Hydrogenation reactions, e.g., the formation
of hard cooking fats from vegetable oils, are catalyzed by finely divided metals or metal oxides.
The commercial preparation of sulfuric acid and nitric acid also depends on such surface
catalysis. Other commonly used surface catalysts, in addition to platinum, are copper, iron,
nickel, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, silica gel (silicon dioxide), and vanadium oxide.

Catalysis (pronounced cat-AL-uh-sis) is the process by which some

substance is added to a reaction in order to make the reaction occur
more quickly. The substance that is added to produce this result is the
catalyst (pronounced CAT-uh-list).
You are probably familiar with the catalytic convertor, a device used in
car exhaust systems to remove gases that cause air pollution. The
catalytic convertor gets its name from the fact that certain metals (the
catalysts) inside the device cause exhaust gases to break down. For
example, when potentially dangerous nitrogen(II) oxide passes through
a catalytic convertor, platinum and rhodium catalysts cause the oxide
to break down into harmless nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen(II) oxide
will break down into nitrogen and oxygen even without the presence of
platinum and rhodium. However, that process takes place over hours,
days, or weeks under natural circumstances. By that time, the
dangerous gas is already in the atmosphere. In the catalytic convertor,
the breakdown of nitrogen(II) oxide takes place within a matter of
seconds.

History
Humans have known about catalysis for many centuries, even though
they knew nothing about the chemical process that was involved. The
making of soap, the fermentation of wine to vinegar, and the leavening
of bread are all processes involving catalysis. One of the first formal
experiments on catalysis occurred in 1812. Russian chemist Gottlieb
Sigismund Constantin Kirchhof (1764–1833) studied the behavior of
starch in boiling water. Under most circumstances, Kirchhof found, no
change occurred when starch was simply boiled in water. But adding
just a few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid to the boiling water had
a profound effect on the starch. In very little time, the starch broke
down to form the simple sugar known as glucose. When Kirchhof found
that the sulfuric acid remained unchanged at the completion of the
experiment, he concluded that it had simply played a helping role in
the conversion of starch to sugar.
The name catalysis was actually proposed in 1835 by Swedish chemist
Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779–1848). The word comes from two Greek
terms, kata  (for "down") and lyein  (for "loosen"). Berzelius used the
term to emphasize that the process loosens the bonds by which
chemical compounds are held together.

Types of catalysis
Catalysis reactions are usually categorized as either homogeneous or
heterogeneous reactions. A homogeneous catalysis reaction is one in
which both the catalyst and the substances on which it works are all
in the same phase (solid, liquid, or gas). The reaction studied by
Kirchhof is an example of a homogeneous catalysis. Both the sulfuric
acid and the starch were in the same phase—a water solution—during
the reaction.
A heterogeneous catalysis reaction is one in which the catalyst is in a
different phase from the substances on which it acts. In a catalytic
convertor, for example, the catalyst is a solid, usually a precious metal
such as platinum or rhodium. The substances on which the catalyst
acts, however, are gases, such as nitrogen(II) oxide and other gaseous
products of combustion.
Some of the most interesting and important catalysts are those that
occur in living systems: the enzymes. All of the reactions that take
place within living bodies occur naturally, whether or not a catalyst is
present. But they take place so slowly on their own that they are of no
value to the survival of an organism. For example, if you place a sugar
cube in a glass of water, it eventually breaks down into simpler
molecules with the release of energy. But that process might take
years. A person who ate a sugar cube and had to wait that long for the
energy to be released in the body would die.
Fortunately, our bodies contain catalysts (enzymes) that speed up
such reactions. They make it possible for the energy stored in sugar
molecules to be released in a matter of minutes.

Industrial applications
Today catalysts are used in untold numbers of industrial processes.
For example, the commercially important gas ammonia is produced by
combining nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas at a high temperature and
pressure in the presence of a catalyst such as powdered iron. In the
absence of the catalyst, the reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen
would, for all practical purposes, not occur. In its presence, the
reaction occurs quickly enough to produce ammonia gas in large
quantities

Catalysts increase the rate of a reaction by providing an intermediate to be formed,

although the catalyst is left unchanged at the end of the reaction. Catalysts speed up
reactions, and without them these reactions might be too slow to sustain life processes.
An enzyme is a protein which has a highly specific amino acid sequence as well as 3D
structure allowing it to catalyse reactions. In this sense, they are biological catalysts. It's
protein structure allows it to do many different things, including modifying other
molecules by adding things, removing things, physically cutting them, or even copying
them!

Examples of enzymes are DNA Polymerases (which replicate our DNA to allow our cells
to divide) and Kinases (which add phosphate groups to other proteins that might be part
of a signalling pathway)

Catalyst, substance that can cause a change in the

rate of a chemical reaction without itself being
consumed in the reaction; the changing of the reaction
rate by use of a catalyst is called catalysis.
Substances that increase the rate of reaction are
called positive catalysts or, simply, catalysts, while
substances that decrease the rate of reaction are
called negative catalysts or inhibitors. 

Mechanism of Catalysis

Catalysts work by changing the activation energy for

a reaction, i.e., the minimum energy needed for the
reaction to occur. This is accomplished by providing a
new mechanism or reaction path through which the
reaction can proceed. When the new reaction path has
a lower activation energy, the reaction rate is
increased and the reaction is said to be catalyzed.
If the activation energy for the new path is higher,
the reaction rate is decreased and the reaction is said
to be inhibited. Inhibitors can provide an interesting
challenge to the chemist. For example, because
oxygen is an inhibitor of free-radical reactions, many
of which are important in the synthesis of polymers,
such reactions must be performed in an oxygen-free
environment, e.g., under a blanket of nitrogen gas.

In some reactions one of the reaction products is a

catalyst for the reaction; this phenomenon is called
self-catalysis or autocatalysis. An example is the
reaction of permanganate ion with oxalic acid to
form carbon dioxide and manganous ion, in which the
manganous ion acts as an autocatalyst. Such
reactions are potentially dangerous, since the reaction
rate may increase to the point of explosion.

Some substances that are not themselves catalysts

increase the activity of a catalyst when added with it
to some reaction; such substances are called
promoters. Alumina is a promoter for iron when it is
used to catalyze the reaction of hydrogen and nitrogen
to form ammonia. Substances that react with
catalysts to reduce or eliminate their effect are called
poisons. 
Types and Importance of Catalysts

Enzymes: Natural Catalysts

Enzymes are the commonest and most efficient of the

catalysts found in nature. Most of the chemical
reactions that occur in the human body and in other
living things are high-energy reactions that would
occur slowly, if at all, without the catalysis provided
by enzymes. For example, in the absence of catalysis,
it takes several weeks for starch to hydrolyze to
glucose; a trace of the enzyme ptyalin, found in human
saliva, accelerates the reaction so that starches can
be digested. Some enzymes increase reaction rates by
a factor of one billion or more.

Enzymes are generally specific catalysts; that is, they

catalyze only one reaction of one particular reactant
(called its substrate). Usually the enzyme and its
substrate have complementary structures and can
bond together to form a complex that is more reactive
due to the presence of functional groups in the
enzyme, which stabilize the transition state of the
reaction or lower the activation energy. The toxicity of
certain substances (e.g., carbon monoxide and the
nerve gases) is due to their inhibition of life-sustaining
catalytic reactions in the body.
Laboratory and Industrial Catalysts

Catalysis is also important in chemical laboratories

and in industry. Some reactions occur faster in the
presence of a small amount of an acid or base and are
said to be acid catalyzed or base catalyzed. For
example, the hydrolysis of esters is catalyzed by the
presence of a small amount of base. In this reaction, it
is the hydroxide ion, OH , that reacts with the ester,
-

and the concentration of the hydroxide ion is greatly

increased over that of pure water by the presence of
the base. Although some of the hydroxide ions
provided by the base are used up in the first part of the
reaction, they are regenerated in a later step from
water molecules; the net amount of hydroxide ion
present is the same at the beginning and end of the
reaction, so the base is thought of as a catalyst and
not as a reactant.

Finely divided metals are often used as catalysts; they

adsorb the reactants onto their surfaces
(see adsorption), where the reaction can occur more
readily. For example, hydrogen and oxygen gases can
be mixed without reacting to form water, but if a small
amount of powdered platinum is added to the gas
mixture, the gases react rapidly. Hydrogenation
reactions, e.g., the formation of hard cooking fats from
vegetable oils, are catalyzed by finely divided metals
or metal oxides. The commercial preparation
of sulfuric acid and nitric acid also depends on such
surface catalysis. Other commonly used surface
catalysts, in addition to platinum, are copper, iron,
nickel, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, silica
gel(silicon dioxide), and vanadium oxide.