Lecture No 7

Metal Carbonyl Hydrides

1. Synthesis
2. Properties
3. Applications
Metal Carbonyl Hydrides
“SYNTHESIS”
 Part II

Metal Carbonyl Hydrides

Properties
Metal Carbonyl Hydrides
“Applications”
 Hydrogen is produced on industrial scale by the water-gas shift
reaction:
CO(g) + H2O (g) CO2(g) + H2(g)
Industrially heterogeneous Fe/Cr or ZnO/Cu catalysts are used.
However metal carbonyls provide useful models and allow a detailed understanding of
this reaction.
Mechanism: The Key step is the nucleophilic attack on a coordinated CO.

OH-
CO CO2
H2 H+