Question

Give one example (equation) of a homogeneously catalysed reaction and name the catalyst.

Answer 1

Hint: A catalyst increases the rate of the reaction by providing an alternate pathway of lower activation energy. When all the species (reactants, catalyst and products) are present in one phase, the catalyst is called homogeneous catalyst and the reaction catalyzed is called homogeneous catalysis.


Complete Step by step answer: There are several examples of spontaneous reactions that occur at a very low rate. Such reactions are very slow processes. However, if you want to use these processes in industrial manufacture, then you cannot wait for a long period of time for the completion of the reaction. Your objective is to minimize the time taken for the completion of reaction. One of the methods to achieve this objective is to use a catalyst, so as to speed up the reaction and increase its speed. By using the catalyst, you can take more batches in the plant in less time.
You can classify the catalyst in two categories, homogeneous catalyst and heterogeneous catalyst.
An example of a homogeneously catalysed reaction is the hydrolysis of ethyl acetate to form ethyl alcohol and acetic acid. The name of the catalyst is sulphuric acid.
So, the balanced chemical equation for the reaction is given below.

$$\text{C}{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}\text{COOC}{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{C}{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}\text{ + HOH }\stackrel{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{S}{\text{O}}_{\text{4}}}{\to }\text{ C}{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}\text{COOH}+\text{ HOC}{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{C}{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}$$

Note: When all the species (reactants, catalyst and products) are present in two or more phases, the catalyst is called heterogeneous catalyst and the reaction catalyzed is called heterogeneous catalyst