The future of the precious metals is shiny and resistant. Although expensive and potentially replaceable by transition metal catalysts, precious metal implementation in research and industry shows potential. These metals catalyze oxidation and hydrogenation due to their dissociative behavior toward hydrogen and oxygen, dehydrogenation, isomerization, and aromatization, etc. The precious metal catalysts, especially platinum-based catalysts, are involved in a variety of industrial processes. Examples include Pt–Rh gauze for nitric acid production, the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst for cyclohexane and propylene production, and Pd/Al2O3 catalysts for petrochemical hydropurification reactions, etc. A quick search of the number of published articles in the last five years containing a combination of corresponding “metals” (Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh and Au) and “catalysts” as keywords indicates the importance of the Pt catalysts, but also the continuous increase in the contribution of Pd and Au. This Special Issue reveals the importance of precious metals in catalysis and focuses on mono- and bi-metallic formulations of any supported precious metals and their promotional catalytic effect of other transition metals. The application of precious metals in diverse reactions, either homogeneous or heterogeneous, and studies of the preparation, characterization, and applications of the supported precious metal catalysts, are presented.

The future of the precious metals is shiny and resistant. Although expensive and potentially replaceable by transition metal catalysts, precious metal implementation in research and industry shows potential. These metals catalyze oxidation and hydrogenation due to their dissociative behavior toward hydrogen and oxygen, dehydrogenation, isomerization, and aromatization, etc. The precious metal catalysts, especially platinum-based catalysts, are involved in a variety of industrial processes. Examples include Pt-Rh gauze for nitric acid production, the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst for cyclohexane and propylene production, and Pd/Al2O3 catalysts for petrochemical hydropurification reactions, etc. A quick search of the number of published articles in the last five years containing a combination of corresponding “metals” (Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh and Au) and “catalysts” as keywords indicates the importance of the Pt catalysts, but also the continuous increase in the contribution of Pd and Au. This Special Issue reveals the importance of precious metals in catalysis and focuses on mono- and bi-metallic formulations of any supported precious metals and their promotional catalytic effect of other transition metals. The application of precious metals in diverse reactions, either homogeneous or heterogeneous, and studies of the preparation, characterization, and applications of the supported precious metal catalysts, are presented.

Written for chemists in industry and academia, this ready reference and handbook summarizes recent progress in the development of new catalysts that do not require precious metals. The research thus presented points the way to how new catalysts may ultimately supplant the use of precious metals in some types of reactions, while highlighting the remaining challenges. An essential copanion for organic and catalytic chemists, as well as those working with/on organometallics and graduate students. From the contents: * Catalysis Involving the H' Transfer Reactions of First-Row Transition Metals * Catalytic Reduction of Dinitrogen to Ammonia by Molybdenum Complexes * Molybdenum and Tungsten Catalysts for Hydrogenation, Hydrosilylation and Hydrolysis * Iron in Catalytic Alkene and Carbonyl Hydrogenation Reactions * Olefin Oligomerizations and Polymerizations Catalyzed by Iron and Cobalt Complexes * Cobalt and Nickel Catalyzed Reactions Involving C-H and C-N Activation Reactions * Development of Molecular Electrocatalysts for H2 Oxidation and Production Based on Inexpensive Metals * Nickel-Catalyzed Reductinve Couplings and Cyclizations * Copper-Catalyzed Ligand Promoted Ullmann-Type Coupling Reactions * Copper-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition * "Frustrated Lewis Pairs": A Metal-Free Strategy for Hydrogenation Catalysis

Considering the limited resources of our planet, earth-abundant elements will have to be explored increasingly in the future. This book highlights the uses of the most earth-abundant elements in catalysis and will be of interest to graduates, academic researchers and practitioners in catalysis.

The use of copper, silver, gold and platinum in jewelry as a measure of wealth is well known. This book contains 19 chapters written by international authors on other uses and applications of noble and precious metals (copper, silver, gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium, ruthenium, and rhenium). The topics covered include surface-enhanced Raman scattering, quantum dots, synthesis and properties of nanostructures, and its applications in the diverse fields such as high-tech engineering, nanotechnology, catalysis, and biomedical applications. The basis for these applications is their high-free electron concentrations combined with high-temperature stability and corrosion resistance and methods developed for synthesizing nanostructures. Recent developments in all these areas with up-to-date references are emphasized.

Catalytic reactions on metals are still nowadays involved in more than half of the chemical industrial processes. The winter school held at "I 'Ecole de in March 1996, 13 years after the first one, accounts Physique des Houches" for an evolution of the field in several directions. First, the emulation between theoretical chemistry and solid state physics has emerged on heuristic concepts, leading not only to explanations of the observed phenomena but, for the first time, to predictions of the reactivity of catalytic systems and of the reaction pathways. The second domain which during these years has become of primary importance is the abatement of the pollution. It concerns not only the conversion of polluting effluents but more and more major modifications of the processes to avoid the production of undesired products. Two striking examples are the necessary catalytic conversion of the 100 000 cubic meter of hydrogen that would be produced in a major incident of a nuclear power plant and the replacement of the CFC. The valorization of agricultural supplies can already be considered as one of the major achievement of catalysis. Indeed, the carbon of biosustainable raw materials represents more than 2 orders of magnitude the amount extracted from fossil fuels each year. Moreover, the molecules are already highly functionalised in contrast with hydrocarbons which require costly steps to be converted to the same products. They are now of current use in the elaboration of cosmetics, vitamins, polymers, etc.