Dynamic Behavior of Catalysts Under Operating Conditions: Part 1—Origin and Development of the Ideas

Currently, the concept of catalyst dynamics, which expresses the phenomena of change in the chemical composition and structure of the catalyst under the action of a reaction medium, has become an integral part of modern catalysis science. However, for the view of the catalyst as a dynamically changing component of a catalytic system to become generally accepted, the catalysis science had to come a long way. The present review provides a retrospective analysis of the development of catalysis with the aim of finding out at what point and under what circumstances the ideas about the dynamic nature of catalysts arose, were experimentally confirmed, and how they were further elaborated. The results of this analysis indicate the universal nature of dynamic catalytic phenomena, which inevitably raises the question of considering them from a broad and unified perspective.