Catalyst Catalytic Reaction Characteristics

There are four fundamental characteristics of catalytic reactions, which can be derived by definition and are important for understanding the function of catalysts.

1. Catalysts can only accelerate reactions that can be carried out thermodynamically. When asked to develop a catalyst for a new chemical reaction, the first step is to perform a thermodynamic analysis of the reaction to see if it is a thermodynamically feasible reaction.

2. The catalyst can only accelerate the reaction to equilibrium, and cannot change the equilibrium position (equilibrium constant) of the reaction.

3. The catalyst is selective to the reaction. When the reaction may have more than one different direction, the catalyst only accelerates one of them, and the reaction rate and selectivity are unified.

4, the life of the catalyst. A catalyst can change the rate of a chemical reaction, and ideally the catalyst is not changed by the reaction. However, in the actual reaction process, some irreversible physical and chemical changes will also occur when the catalyst is heated and chemically acted for a long time.

According to the definition and characteristic analysis of catalysts, there are three important catalyst indicators: activity, selectivity, and stability.