google hydrogenation of ethylene to yield ethane on a nickel surface.
What is going on it is not a pure nickel surface, there are molecules of Ni(NiCH) on that surface. As ethylene passes over, there are a series of surface reactions exchanging carbon and hydrogens as bonds are broken and reformed. The total energy required for this series of reaction is lower than the activation energy of the basic reaction, and those pathways then dominate.
The reaction of the molecules to produce ethane is C2H4(g) + H2(g) → C2H6(g).
A mechanism for this reaction is shown below:
(The figures show how the ethene molecule with two hydrogen molecules attached 'binds' to nickel. Then four more hydrogen atoms are bound to the nickel, but two of those hydrogen atoms bind to the ethene molecule and then ethane is produced).
Explain the mechanism shown in the figure.
Please help!
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