A study of catalytic actions at solid surfaces. II.—The transference of hydrogen from saturated to unsaturated organic compounds in the liquid state in presence of metallic nickel

It has been shown in the first part of this series that hydrogenation in the liquid state at a surface of metallic nickel is to be considered as effected by the temporary union of the unsaturated organic compound and of hydrogen with the nickel, followed by a breakdown of this intermediate system into nickel and the saturated compound. This explanation is a development of the “intermediate compound” theory of catalysis first put forward by De la Rive and differs from the older view mainly in that it postulates an intermediate system of a very loose unstable type, similar to that produced between the natural enzymes, water (or oxygen), and the compounds attacked by the latter, during enzymic catalysis.