Mechanical Catalysis: Methods of Enzymatic, Homogeneous, and Heterogeneous Catalysis

This book examines the principles of mechanics as they apply to chemistry and, more particularly, catalysis. It’s a unique, comprehensive resource focusing on unconventional time-dependent (mechanical) catalysis, instead of the more familiar energy-dependent (thermodynamic) catalysis. To help practitioners envision how catalyst-reactant dynamism leads to time-dependent catalysis, it:

• Demonstrates the existence of two fundamentally different forms of “reaction-limited” catalysis, namely time-dependent (mechanical) and energy-dependent (thermodynamic) catalysis

• Describes their physical manifestation in heterogeneous and homogeneous systems

• Shows how many enzymes use time-dependent catalytic reactions

• Unravels the mystery of enzymatic catalysis, including: the fundamental processes at work, the origin of its general and physical features, the way it has evolved, and how it relates to catalysis in man-made systems

• Unifies homogeneous, heterogeneous, and enzymatic catalysis, and explains how the thirty or so general theories of enzymatic catalysis are knit together into a conceptually coherent whole

• Describes how to authentically mimic the underlying principles of enzymatic catalysis in man-made systems, including: the design requirements for such catalysts, the difficulties in duplicating the natural process, and the approaches that may be used to overcome these challenges

• Describes the role of catalysis in the emerging field of complex systems science

A key resource for chemists, biochemists, and chemical engineers, this is also a reference for students of complex systems science and researchers in a variety of fields, including economics, evolution, weather forecasting, traffic management, and networking.