ABSTRACT
Of all the reaction parameters involved in a heterogeneously catalyzed process, the selection of the catalyst is probably the most critical in determining the outcome of a particular reaction. This chapter provides the reader with the information needed to make the selection of the catalyst more efficient. Most of the catalysts used for synthetic reactions are composed of the catalytically active species dispersed on a supposedly inert support material. The nature of the support can influence both catalyst stability and activity. It can also define the procedure best applicable for the preparation of a specific catalyst. Most synthetically useful catalytic processes are run over metal catalysts which can be composed of a single metallic component or a mixture of metals. Metal catalysts are used primarily for hydrogenations, hydrogenolyses, isomerisations and oxidative dehydrogenations. Such materials have been used to obtain almost all of the fundamental information on which the various theories of catalysis have been derived.
