A MATHEMATICAL INTERPRETATION OF CATALYSIS DERIVED FROM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY .2. REACTIONS OF H AND H2 WITH O OH AND H2O

Experimental data are presented on the activities reported for metals and compounds in the formation of water by catalysis of the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen and by reduction of metal oxides. The Intermedion Theory is used to predict metals which should catalyze reactions of H and H2 with O, OH, and H2O. Predictions and experiment are in agreement with respect to the metals and in many cases with respect to chemical oxidation state as well. Other metals which are not good catalysts or components of oxidants to form water are not found among the metals predicted for these reactions. Restricting the reactants at the catalytic site to a single oxidation state limits the number of metals predicted to such an extent that differences in reaction mechanism become clearly apparent. Certain oxidation states of Cr, Fe, Cu, Ag, Co, and Ni catalyze the reaction of polarized chemisorbed hydrogen molecules and oxygen atoms to form water directly in a single step. Other metals, such as, Mn, Ru, Ir, Pd, and Pt catalyze successive steps through OH and H3O+ intermediates. The catalytic species active in these reactions are Cr4+, Fe4+, Co4+, Ru2+, and Ru3+, Mn3+ and Mn4+, Mn6+ and Mn7+, and Ni3+. The possibility that intermedions" are one class of the long-sought activated intermediates of catalysis is supported by these results. © 1968 Academic Press Inc."