Preface

Catalysis is one of the basic fundamental as well as thrust research areas of chemical sciences which fascinate a wide range of academicians, researchers, chemical technologists and industries throughout the world. The field of catalysis is interdisciplinary by its nature and includes organic synthesis, coordination and organometallic chemistry, kinetics and mechanism, stereochemical concepts and material science, all at its very heart. In the past few decades, the commercially valuable products obtained via the diverse catalysts and catalytic processes have been gaining unprecedented prominence, which could be evidenced by increasingly large numbers of publications and patents. Innumerable organic, inorganic and biochemical reactions are facilitated by catalysis, and thus, it plays a crucial role in chemical sciences. The global catalyst market shows about 90% of all commercially produced bulk and fine chemicals, biochemical, synthetic and medicinal products involving homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis at some stage in the chemical or biochemical process of their manufacture. In recent years, there has been tremendous growth in various types of subfields in catalysis, e.g., nanocatalysis, asymmetric or chiral catalysis, industrial catalysis, organocatalysis, photocatalysis, electrochemical catalysis, enzyme and biocatalysis, tandem catalysis, autocatalysis, induced catalysis and environmental catalysis. The quantitative requirement of the catalyst in a chemical process, from the stoichiometric amount to the catalytic amount and potential to change the equilibrium, excites the researcher to dream about a perpetual motion machine, a contradiction to the law of thermodynamics. Stereospecific catalysts not only accelerate the reaction rates but it also controls the absolute configuration of product, therefore, a deep insight into the kinetics and mechanism of catalysis is vital to get desired product conversion rates, turnover number, and frequency of the catalytic reaction processes. Therefore, catalysis development and understanding are crucial not only to the academics or basic microscopic level but to the industrial, technology or macroscopic level.

This book involves the most distinctive characteristics inclusive of catalysis and highlights many important topics and subfields/subdisciplines. The novel design, synthesis, development, reducing energy consumption and side products, atom economy and green chemistry approach of catalysis definitely would play a vital role in the diverse strategies for catalytic reactions.

We hope this book will serve as an excellent reference book for graduate students and researchers at all levels in both academic and industrial laboratories.