ABSTRACT
Skeletal (Raney®) catalysts are made by a very simple technique. An alloy of two metals in roughly equal proportions, where one metal is the desired catalytic material, and the other is dissolvable in hydroxide, is first made. This alloy is crushed and leached in concentrated hydroxide solution. The soluble metal selectively dissolves, leaving behind a highly porous spongelike structure of the desired catalytic metal. Catalysts formed by this technique show high activity and selectivity, and have found wide use in industry, particularly for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions.
