Catalytic hydrogenation of alkenes is a transition-metal catalyzed reduction of the double bond using molecular hydrogen to give alkanes. The mode of hydrogen addition follows syn stereochemistry.
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...

Heterogeneous catalysis involves a catalyst in a different phase from the reactants. It is a process where the catalyst and the reactants are in distinct phases, typically solid and gas or liquid.Most heterogeneous catalysts are metals, metal oxides, or acids. The list includes transition metals like iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), tungsten (W), silver (Ag), and copper (Cu). These metals possess partially vacant d orbitals that...

As depicted in the figure below, the unsymmetrical ketones can form two possible enolates: less substituted or more substituted enolates. Usually, the thermodynamic enolates are formed from the more substituted α-carbon atom, while the kinetic enolates are formed faster by deprotonation from the less substituted position. The thermodynamic enolates have lower energy, so they are more stable. But the energy required to form kinetic enolates is less.

The theory of catalytically perfect enzymes was first proposed by W.J. Albery and J. R. Knowles in 1976. These enzymes catalyze biochemical reactions at high-speed. Their catalytic efficiency values range from 108-109 M-1s-1. These enzymes are also called 'diffusion-controlled' as the only rate-limiting step in the catalysis is that of the substrate diffusion into the active site. Examples include triose phosphate isomerase, fumarase, and superoxide dismutase.

A significant aspect of hydroboration–oxidation is the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the reaction.
Hydroboration proceeds in a concerted fashion with the attack of borane on the π bond, giving a cyclic four-centered transition state. The –BH2 group is bonded to the less substituted carbon and –H to the more substituted carbon. The concerted nature requires the simultaneous addition of –H and –BH2 across the same face of the alkene giving syn stereochemistry.

If a set of reactants can yield multiple constitutional isomers, but one of the isomers is obtained as the major product, the reaction is said to be regioselective. In such reactions, bond formation or breaking is favored at one reaction site over others.
The hydrohalogenation of an unsymmetrical alkene can yield two haloalkane products, depending on which vinylic carbon takes up the halogen. However, one product usually predominates, where hydrogen adds to the vinylic carbon bearing the...