ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the authors’ studies of the fundamental properties of transition metal sulfide catalysts, which govern their ability to catalyze a given reaction. It is convenient to divide the discussion of properties into a discussion of three effects which become apparent during experimentation: electronic, geometric, and chemical. The chapter discusses the promotional effect which requires an understanding of the first three effects for explanation. A comparison of the transition metalsulfides as hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts indicates that carbon-sulfur hydrogenolysis activity varies with the position that the metal occupies in the Periodic Table. The general periodic variation of the ability of the transition metal sulfides to catalyze the HDS of sulfur-bearing molecules was reported. The periodic trends for HDS activity in the case of the transition metal sulfides follow the correlations described above for other catalytic systems.
