Chemistry and catalysis

Abstract

For over a century, trace impurities have been involved in the chemical industry to accelerate chemical processes, or to enable those that will not function under normal conditions of temperature and pressure. Industrial examples started using impurities (here called catalysts) to speed up the production of margarine and development of chemical dyes. The concept is so effective that it is totally widespread and, of the thousands of examples one can cite, virtually every step in the chemistry of oil refineries, to catalytic convertors that clean car exhaust systems. Catalysts are also key to life and substances but, in biology, they are termed enzymes (without them life would not exist). Such powerful chemistry has diversified across many topic areas and cited examples range from forensics to cleaning and nuclear reactors.