Poisoning metal-sulfur bonds

For catalysts poisoned by sulfur, the metal-sulfur bond is usually broken in the presence of steam, as shown for nickel ... 

Rhenium Sulfides and Selenides.208 209 These catalysts are characterized by their outstanding resistance to poisoning and minimal tendency to cause the hydrogenolysis of carbon-sulfur bonds than the base metal sulfides. Rhenium heptasulfide is easily prepared from boiling 6M hydrochloric acid solutions of perrhenate with hydrogen sulfide. It has been noted that occasional exposure of the dried, powdered catalyst to the atmosphere is not deleterious. 

All heavy crude oil residues have heavy metals such as Ni, V or Fe in their structure. These metals are bonded as organometalic compounds. At high temperatures and for hydrogenation reactions, these compounds are cracked and heavy metals are deposited on the catalyst surface. These metals can also react with hydrogen sulfur from the gas phase to form metal sulfides. The deposition of sulfides of iron, vanadium or nickel leads to irreversible poisoning of the catalyst. This is the difference between catalyst deactivation by metals and deactivation by coke the former leads to an irreversible loss of the catalyst activity. 

In contrast to heterogeneous metal catalysts, the chlororhodium complex is not sensitive to sulfur poisoning,thus allowing the saturation of double bonds in the presence of mercapto functions. 

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