Mechanism of ethylene hydrogenation

Abstract

ELEY1, in his article on ethylene hydrogenation, points out several treatments for developing the half-hydrogenated state, which then is converted to ethane. Basically these are: (1) the Polanyi and Greenhalgh2 treatment: (Diagram presented) which requires an essentially equivalent and ideal adsorption of hydrogen and ethylene on a uniform surface, and (2) the Twigg3 mechanism, which postulates that the reaction of hydrogen on ethylene-metal can occur only by reaction of the hydrogen with chemisorbed ethylene: (Diagram presented) © 1962 Nature Publishing Group.