Poison, in catalytic hydrogenation

The low yields of 6,6 -disubstituted-2,2 -bipyridincs recorded in Table I are probably the result of steric retardation of the adsorption of 2-substituted pyridines. This view is supported by the observation that 2-methylpyridine is a much weaker poison for catalytic hydrogenations than pyridine. On the other hand, the quinolines so far examined (Table II) are more reactive but with these compounds the steric effect of the fused benzene ring could be partly compensated by the additional stabilization of the adsorbed species, since the loss of resonance energy accompanying the localization of one 71-electron would be smaller in a quinoline than in a pyridine derivative. 

Sulfur is generally considered to be a poison of hydrogenation reactions. However, in commercial hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions, sulfur is also used as a modifier, and in some cases as activator of catalytic hydrogenation reactions. Barbier and co-authors review the Role of Sulfur in Catalytic Hydrogenation Reactions. ... 

The above tabulation refers especially to toxicity in catalytic hydrogenation towards a catalyst such as platinum, palladium, or nickel, and the greater part of the experimental work has been done with platinum catalysts at temperatures below 100°C. but the principle also applies to other catalytic reactions provided that the molecular form of the poison is stable under the conditions employed. 

Most refinery/petrochemical processes produce ethylene that contains trace amounts of acetylene, which is difficult to remove even with cryogenic distillation. Frequently it is necessary to lower the acetylene concentration from several hundreds ppm to < 10 ppm in order to avoid poisoning catalysts used in subsequent ethylene consuming processes, such as polymeri2ation to polyethylene. This can be accompHshed with catalytic hydrogenation according to the equation. 

The poisoning effect of hydrogen when dissolved in palladium was for the first time properly described and interpreted by Couper and Eley (29) in 1950 in their study of the fundamental importance of the development of theories of catalysis on metals. The paper and the main results relate to the catalytic effect of an alloying of gold to palladium, on the parahydrogen conversion. This system was chosen as suitable for attempting to relate catalyst activity to the nature and occupation of the electronic energy... 

A similar reaction was studied by Kowaka Jfi) who investigated the catalytic activity of palladium and its alloys with silver in the hydrogenation of ethylene. The author alluded to the poisoning effect of hydrogen pretreatment of the palladium catalyst. 

The frara-effect in co-ordination chemistry is well known however, what has not been examined in any detail is the effect of trons-molecules in heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation. In this paper we will show that trans molecules hydrogenate more slowly than other isomers and can poison reactions of species that would be expected to be more strongly bound. However, if a c/s/frans-mixture is used this strong adsorption can be disrapted. 

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