Petroleum feedstocks, hydrotreatment

In this chemistry, it is natural to focus on models for the catalytic reactions that are most important economically or which are most poorly understood because of difficulties of direct study. One which best fits these criteria is the catalytic hydrotreatment of petroleum feedstocks, which is used to remove sulfur and other heteroatoms, which interfere with subsequent catalytic reactions such as petroleum reforming, from the hydrocarbons. Molybdemun sulfide is the most common metal sulfide used in this catalysis, and hydrogen activation and C-S bond hydrogenolysis are known to be key reactions occurring at the catalyst surface but details are difficult to obtain. Study of model binuclear and cluster complexes has elucidated mechanisms of several of the key reactions and Section 2.6 describes important recent advances in this field, with the focus being on models for hydrodesulfurization catalysts. 

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