HYDROGENATION OF ALKENES Alkenes are unsaturated hydrocarbon with the general formula of CnH2n.

Alkenes contain the double bond in their molecule. Alkenes are relatively stable compound, but are more reactive than alkanes due to the presence of a carbon-carbon double bond. The majority of the reactions of alkenes involve the rupture of double bond, forming new single bonds. One of the reactions that occur in alkenes is addition reaction. The example of addition reaction that I will explain here is hydrogenation of alkenes. Hydrogenation is the addition of hydrogen (H2) to a double bond. In this reaction, an alkenes (unsaturated hydrocarbon) is converted to an alkanes (saturated hydrocarbon). Alkenes and hydrogen do not react under normal conditions. However, alkenes will combine with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to form an alkanes. The rate of hydrogenation will increase dramatically when catalyst was used. Platinum is the hydrogenation catalyst most often used, although palladium, nickel and rhodium are also effective. Highly active catalysts operate at lower temperature and lower

pressure of hydrogen. Metal-catalyzed addition of hydrogenation is normally rapid at room temperature and the alkanes is produced in high yield, usually as the only product. The metal catalyst accelerates the rate of hydrogenation by providing an alternative pathway that involves a sequence of several low activation energy steps. The solvent used in catalytic hydrogenation is chosen for the ability to dissolve the alkenes and is typically ethanol, hexane or acetic acid. The metal catalysts are insoluble in these solvents. Two phases, the solution and the metal, are present, and the reaction takes place at the interface between them. Reactions involving a

substance in one phase with a different substance in a second phase are called heterogeneous reactions. Two broad families of catalysts are known as homogeneous and heterogeneous. Homogeneous catalysts dissolve in the solvent that contains the unsaturated substrates while heterogeneous catalysts are solid that are suspended in the same solvent with the substrate or are treated with gaseous substrate.

Catalytic hydrogenation takes place in at least two stages. First, the alkenes must be adsorbed on the surface of the catalyst along with some of the hydrogen. Next, two hydrogen shift from the metal surface to the carbons of the double bond, and the resulting saturated hydrocarbon, which is more weakly adsorbed, leaves the catalyst surface. As hydrogen adsorbed on the surface of the metal, the alkenes complexes with the metal by overlapping its own p orbital with empty orbital of the metals. All the bond-breaking and bond-forming events occur on the surface of the metal. As the alkanes product forms, it diffuses away from the metal surface. The hydrogenation of alkenes is exothermic and hydrogenation is characterized by a negative sign for H for all alkenes. The heat given off on hydrogenation of an alkenes is called heat of This heat of reaction can be used to evaluate the thermodynamic

hydrogenation.

stability of alkenes having different number of alkyl substituent on the double bond. An important characteristic of alkenes hydrogenation, both the homogeneously and heterogeneously catalyzed versions is that hydrogen addition occurs with syn addition, with hydrogen entering from the least hindered side. Hydrogenation is widely applied to the processing of vegetable oils and fat. Complete hydrogenation converts unsaturated fatty acids to saturated ones. In practice the process is not usually carried to completion. Since the original oils usually contain more than one double bond per molecule that is polyunsaturated, the result is usually described as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, that is some, but usually not all, of the double bonds in each molecule have been reduced. This is done by restricting the amount of hydrogen allowed to react with fat. Hydrogenation also is used in petrochemical processes. Hydrogenation is used to convert alkenes and aromatics into saturated alkanes ( paraffins) and cycloalkanes (napthenes). Hydrocracking of heavy residues into diesel is another application. In conclusion, hydrogenation process of alkenes has many applications in our daily life.