Not all 5% Pd/C catalysts are the same

Carbon-supported precious metal catalysts play an indispensable role in the synthesis of fine chemicals, agrochemicals and APIs. Their performance in hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions has established them as long-standing industrial standards.

Heterogeneously catalysed hydrogenations account for a significant share of fine chemical and pharmaceutical synthesis steps, with Pd/C and Pt/C catalysts widely used for this. Some key advantages of these catalysts are their robustness, atom economy and well-established processing behaviour, which leads to easy separation from the product and reusability.