Catalysis by Metals

Catalytic reactions on metals are still nowadays involved in more than half of the chemical industrial processes. The winter school held at "I 'Ecole de in March 1996, 13 years after the first one, accounts Physique des Houches" for an evolution of the field in several directions. First, the emulation between theoretical chemistry and solid state physics has emerged on heuristic concepts, leading not only to explanations of the observed phenomena but, for the first time, to predictions of the reactivity of catalytic systems and of the reaction pathways. The second domain which during these years has become of primary importance is the abatement of the pollution. It concerns not only the conversion of polluting effluents but more and more major modifications of the processes to avoid the production of undesired products. Two striking examples are the necessary catalytic conversion of the 100 000 cubic meter of hydrogen that would be produced in a major incident of a nuclear power plant and the replacement of the CFC. The valorization of agricultural supplies can already be considered as one of the major achievement of catalysis. Indeed, the carbon of biosustainable raw materials represents more than 2 orders of magnitude the amount extracted from fossil fuels each year. Moreover, the molecules are already highly functionalised in contrast with hydrocarbons which require costly steps to be converted to the same products. They are now of current use in the elaboration of cosmetics, vitamins, polymers, etc.

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This book presents recent advances in the field of catalysis by metals, in both academic and industrial laboratories. The contributions cover many aspects of the field, from theoretical chemistry to the preparation and characterization of catalysts, with applications on depollution and colonization of agricultural supplies. It addresses researchers and students working in the field.

Contenu
Lecture 1 IR Characterization of Metal Catalysts Using CO as Probe Molecule.- Lecture 2 Prolegomena to Magnetic Circular Dichroism in X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy.- Lecture 3 Measurement of Catalyst Performances at the Laboratory.- Lecture 4 Electronic Structure of Metals and Alloys: from Bulk to Surfaces and Clusters.- Lecture 5 Étude des adsorbats moléculaires sur surface métallique par spectroscopies de photoémission et d'absorption X.- Lecture 6 Catalysis by Metals: Contribution of Electrochemistry.- Lecture 7 Catalysis and Automotive Pollution Control.- Lecture 8 Chemisorption Bonds at Transition Metal Surfaces: Orbital Approach.- Lecture 9 Characterization of Metallic Catalysts by X-Ray and Electron Microscopy Techniques.- Lecture 10 Vibrational Spectroscopy with Neutrons.- Lecture 11 Metal Catalysis in the Conversion of Biosustainable Resources.