TYPE OF CATALYST

Catalysts can be heterogeneous or homogeneous, depending on whether a catalyst

exists in the same phase as the substrate.
1) Homogeneous catalyst
Homogeneous catalysis is a sequence of reactions that involve a catalyst in the same
phase as the reactants. Phase here is refers to solid, liquid and gas. The typically
homogeneous catalysts are dissolved in a solvent with the substrate. One example of
homogeneous catalysis involves the influence of H+ on the esterification of carboxylic
acids, such as the formation of methyl acetate from acetic acid and methanol. For
inorganic chemists, homogeneous catalysis is often synonymous with organometallic
catalysts.
Examples:
i)
Organometallic catalyst
Processes that utilize soluble organometallic compounds as catalysts fall under the
category of homogeneous catalysis, as opposed to processes that use bulk metal or
metal on a solid support, which are examples of heterogeneous catalysis. Some wellknown examples of homogeneous catalysis include hydroformylation and transfer
hydrogenation,

as

well

as

certain

kinds

of Ziegler-Natta polymerization

and hydrogenation. Homogeneous catalysts has also been used in a variety of industrial
processes

such

as

of ethylene to acetaldehyde)

the Wacker
as

well

process
as

Acetaldehyde

the Monsanto

process and

(conversion
the Cativa

process for the conversion of MeOH and CO to acetic acid.

ii)

Acid catalyst

The proton is the most pervasive homogeneous catalyst because water is the most
common solvent. Water forms protons by the process of self-ionization of water. In an
illustrative case, acids accelerate (catalyze) the hydrolysis of esters:
CH3CO2CH3 + H2O

CH3CO2H + CH3OH

In the absence of acids, aqueous solutions of most esters do not hydrolyze at practical
rates.

2) Heterogeneous
Heterogeneous

catalysts

act

in

different phase than

the reactants.

Most

heterogeneous catalysts are solids that act on substrates in a liquid or gaseous reaction

mixture. The total surface area of solid has an important effect on the reaction rate. The
smaller the catalyst particle size, the larger the surface area for a given mass of
particles.
Classes of heterogeneous:

Reacting
phases

Examples

Comment

solid + gas

Ammonia synthesis from N2 +

H2 over iron catalysts

solid +
solution

hydrogenation of fatty acids with

nickel

used for the production

of margarine

immiscible
liquid phases

hydroformylation of propene

catalyst in aqueous phase,

reactants and products mainly
in nonaqueous phase

Examples:
Process

Reactants, product(s)

Catalyst

Comment

Sulfuric acid

SO2 + O2, SO3

vanadium

hydration of SO3 gives H2SO4

synthesis (Contact
process)

oxides

Ammonia synthesis

N2 + H2, NH3

(HaberBosch

iron oxides

consumes 1% of world's

on alumina

industrial energy budget

unsupported Pt-

direct routes from N2 are

Rh gauze

uneconomical

Nickel or K2O

Greener routes to H2 by water

process)
Nitric acid synthesis

NH3 + O2, HNO3

(Ostwald process)
Hydrogen production

CH4 + H2O, H2 + CO2

by Steam reforming

splitting actively sought

Ethylene

C2H4 + O2, C2H4O

oxide synthesis

silver on alumin

poorly applicable to other

a, with many

alkenes

promotors
Hydrogen cyanide

NH3 + O2 + CH4, HCN

Pt-Rh

Related ammoxidation proces

synthesis (Andrussov

s converts hydrocarbons

oxidation)

tonitriles

Olefin

propylene, polypropylen

polymerization Ziegler

TiCl3 on MgCl2

many variations exist,

including

Natta polymerization

some homogeneous
examples

Desulfurization of

H2 + R2S (idealized

Mo-Co on

produces low-sulfur

petroleum

organosulfur impurity),

alumina

hydrocarbons, sulfur

(hydrodesulfurization)

RH + H2S

recovered via theClaus

process

3) Enzymes and biocatalyst

In biology, enzymes are called protein-based catalysts in metabolism and catabolism.
Most biocatalysts are enzymes, but other non-protein-based classes of biomolecules
also exhibit catalytic properties including ribozymes, and synthetic deoxyribozymes.
Biocatalysts

can

be

classified

as

intermediate

between

homogeneous

and

heterogeneous catalysts, although strictly speaking soluble enzymes are homogeneous

catalysts and membrane-bound enzymes are heterogeneous.
In biocatalysis, enzymes are employed to prepare many commodity chemicals
including high-fructose corn syrup and acrylamide.

Some monoclonal antibodies whose binding target is a stable molecule which resembles
the transition state of a chemical reaction can function as weak catalysts for that
chemical reaction by lowering its activation energy. The catalytic antibodies are called
"abzymes".