2
Nll will be favoured when the sulphides of M are more stable than those of X and when the surface free energy of X is less than that of M. In addition, penetration of S into the bulk will be facilitated when the cohesive energy of the substrate is low. In bimetallic catalysts containing Pt, it appears that the relative stabilities of the sulphides is the dominant factor determining whether or not the second metal promotes Pt sulphi- dation. C.S. McKee Catalysis -- How Big is Too Big? The size of a recent issue (11/12/95) of CA Selects Plus Catalysis (Applied & PhysicalAspects) caused the above ques- tion to be considered. This issue contained 127 pages of abstracts that will appear in Chemical Abstracts that are related to ap- plied and physical aspects of catalysis. During a year 26 issues of CA Selects Plus are published. Counting the number of ab- stracts contained on several pages indi- cated that about 10 abstracts are con- tained per page. Taking an average of 100 pages per issue and 10 abstracts per page means that 26,000 abstracts on catalysis will ap- pear in 1995. For those of us who are not super speed readers, even allowing for ten seconds to absorb what is in an abstract will require morethan 70 hours, almost two weeks, of our time. When one looks at the list of topics in the CA Selects~CA Selects Plus series one becomes overwhelmed at the potential for scanning abstracts on catalysis. Included in the listing are the following topics that emphasize catalysis: Metallo Enzymes & Metallo Coenzymes; Oxidation Catalysis, Phase Transfer Catalysis; Photocatalysis; Surface Analysis; Surface Chemistry (Physicochemical Aspects), Synfuels; Ze- olites; Alkylation & Catalysis; Batteries & Fuel Cells; Catalysis (Applied & Physical Aspects); Catalysis (Organic Reactions); Catalyst Regeneration; Catalytic & Kinetic Analysis; Coal Science & Process Chem- istry; Enzyme Applications; and Enzyme Analysis. The management of Chemical Abstracts strives to provide complete coverage of catalysis in two of CA Se- lects/CA Selects Plus: Catalysis (Applied & Physical Aspects) and Catalysis (Or- ganic Reactions). The latter also provides coverage of biocatalysis. Thus, one should obtain a reasonable coverage of catalysis literature by reading these two CA Selects. For the slow readers we are now up to about one month per year reading abstracts on catalysis. We would all be 'lost' without Chemical Abstracts to assist us in keeping up with the literature. Some may therefore see any comment that is even remotely critical of Chemical Abstracts and its continuing rapid expansion as being akin to attacking 'motherhood and apple pie'. However, one is impressed at the duplication in some entries. As an example, we find on page 121 of the 11/12/95 issue, abstract 1995:925113 entitled "Applications of NMR techniques for studying coking of FCC catalysts" by J.L. Bonardst, M.C. Barrage and J. Fraissard. This abstract includes the abstract that was submitted by the authors to be included in the Book of Abstracts for the 210th ACS National Meeting. Six and one-half lines of the abstract were utilized to identify the title, authors, their organiza- tion and the place the abstracted material appeared. The technical aspects of the abstract take another 10 lines, and is applied catalysis A: General Volume 136 No. 2 -- 14 March 1996

Catalysis — How big is too big?

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Page 1: Catalysis — How big is too big?

N l l

will be favoured when the sulphides of M are more stable than those of X and when the surface free energy of X is less than that of M. In addition, penetration of S into the bulk will be facilitated when the cohesive energy of the substrate is low. In bimetallic catalysts containing Pt, it appears that the relative stabilities of the sulphides is the dominant factor determining whether or not the second metal promotes Pt sulphi- dation.

C.S. McKee

Catalysis - - How Big is Too Big?

The size of a recent issue (11/12/95) of CA Selects Plus Catalysis (Applied & PhysicalAspects) caused the above ques- tion to be considered. This issue contained 127 pages of abstracts that will appear in Chemical Abstracts that are related to ap- plied and physical aspects of catalysis. During a year 26 issues of CA Selects Plus are published. Counting the number of ab- stracts contained on several pages indi- cated that about 10 abstracts are con- tained per page.

Taking an average of 100 pages per issue and 10 abstracts per page means that 26,000 abstracts on catalysis will ap- pear in 1995. For those of us who are not super speed readers, even allowing for ten seconds to absorb what is in an abstract will require morethan 70 hours, almost two weeks, of our time.

When one looks at the list of topics in the CA Selects~CA Selects Plus series one becomes overwhelmed at the potential for scanning abstracts on catalysis. Included in the listing are the following topics that emphasize catalysis: Metallo Enzymes & Metallo Coenzymes; Oxidation Catalysis,

Phase Transfer Catalysis; Photocatalysis; Surface Analysis; Surface Chemistry (Physicochemical Aspects), Synfuels; Ze- olites; Alkylation & Catalysis; Batteries & Fuel Cells; Catalysis (Applied & Physical Aspects); Catalysis (Organic Reactions); Catalyst Regeneration; Catalytic & Kinetic Analysis; Coal Science & Process Chem- istry; Enzyme Applications; and Enzyme Analysis. The management of Chemical Abstracts strives to provide complete coverage of catalysis in two of CA Se- lects/CA Selects Plus: Catalysis (Applied & Physical Aspects) and Catalysis (Or- ganic Reactions). The latter also provides coverage of biocatalysis. Thus, one should obtain a reasonable coverage of catalysis literature by reading these two CA Selects. For the slow readers we are now up to about one month per year reading abstracts on catalysis.

We would all be 'lost' without Chemical Abstracts to assist us in keeping up with the literature. Some may therefore see any comment that is even remotely critical of Chemical Abstracts and its continuing rapid expansion as being akin to attacking 'motherhood and apple pie'. However, one is impressed at the duplication in some entries. As an example, we find on page 121 of the 11/12/95 issue, abstract 1995:925113 entitled "Applications of NMR techniques for studying coking of FCC catalysts" by J.L. Bonardst, M.C. Barrage and J. Fraissard. This abstract includes the abstract that was submitted by the authors to be included in the Book of Abstracts for the 210th ACS National Meeting. Six and one-half lines of the abstract were utilized to identify the title, authors, their organiza- tion and the place the abstracted material appeared. The technical aspects of the abstract take another 10 lines, and is

applied catalysis A: General Volume 136 No. 2 - - 14 March 1996

Page 2: Catalysis — How big is too big?

N12

slightly longer than the attribution portion. In the same issue, another abstract ap- pears because the presentation was in the Division of Petroleum Chemistry: 123:291195b "Applications of NMR tech- niques for studying coking of FCC cata- lysts" by J.L. Bonardet, M.C. Barrage and J. Fraissard. In this abstract the title, etc. take up four lines of abstract space. An abstracter needed only one and a half lines to describe the paper thus: "A review with 19 refs. of NMR techniques for studies of the coking of petroleum cracking cata- lysts."

The message seems clear-- one is not going to be able to keep up with all of the abstracts that are relevant to catalysis. The primary literature is far too vast for anyone to think of reading all of the papers. Thus, one is faced with becoming a specialist in a narrow area of catalysis or of depending upon literature reviews to be of sufficient quality so that we do not fall behind in our understanding of catalysis. In 1830 Berze- lius read the papers published in all of chemistry and published a book in which he summarized the year's progress in chemistry. Even a person with Berzelius' talents would be overwhelmed at the thought of undertaking today this task for catalysis, let alone all of chemistry. We leave it to the reader to ponder the wisdom of the current situation and what the impact of the computer and the web will do for the literature of catalysis in the future.

B. Davis

A New Catalysis Institute?

In the closing years of this century, it is becoming fashionable to try to predict the future of science and academic endeav-

our. One of the largest excercises of this sort was the programme launched by the UK Office of Science and Technology en- titled 'Technology Foresight' in which a series of panels compiled reports on the current status of various disciplines and made predictions for future developments. The chemistry report was unusual in that it went as far as proposing the creation of a new institute, in catalysis. Following the publication of the reports, bids were re- quested for the creation of such an in- stitute. According to an article in the De- cember 1995 issue of Chemistry in Britain (Vol. 31, No.12, p. 927), it is likely that an institute will emerge which has some of the features of the Dutch Institute of Catalysis Research (NIOK). This will be supported by a network of 20 academic departments (chemical and chemical engineering) and industrial laboratories and will involve a distributed arrangement with each partner bringing in its own expertise. The institute might have a director and a small perma- nent technical staff but the main manpower would be supplied by visiting faculty from universities and industry. It is hoped that there will be funding from both government and industry. We look forward to hearing how this initiative will develop.

Patents

For those European scientists looking into the possibility of applying for US pat- ents on their new wonder catalysts or pro- cesses, a recent article in Chemistry in Britain (Jan. 1996, p. 38) entitled 'Levelling the Playing Field' is worth reading. Written by Richard Sewell, a specialist in patent law, it gives some simple rules on how to keep your lab books in order to support US patent applications. This article has been

applied catalysis A: General Volume 136 No. 2 - - 14 March 1996