Mechanismus der katalysierten Synthese von Kohlenwasserstoffen

Abstract
On the mechanism of the catalysed synthesis of hydrocarbons. Recent results by independent research teams prove that, in hydrocarbon synthesis over metal catalysts in a reducing atmosphere, the dissociative adsorption of CO is of considerable importance. On the catalyst surface the two fragments, Cads and Oads, react swiftly with hydrogen to CHx,ads and H2O respectively. CHx,ads can be either hydrogenated to methane or incorporated in growing chains. This process may be visualized as a cis insertion of a carbene CH2,ads in a metal‐alkyl bond. In the steady state the catalyst surface is predominantly covered with COads, only a small fraction of the surface atoms carrying growing alkyl groups. These have been detected by 13C labelling as well as by IR spectroscopy.