1. General characteristics of hydrogenation

1.1 Thermodynamics

All hydrogenations are exothermic reactions . In each family of compounds (Table 1 ), the free enthalpy of hydrogenation decreases slightly as the molecular weight of the hydrocarbons increases.

What's more, the addition of hydrogen to an unsaturated molecule results in a decrease in the entropy of the entire system, so all hydrogenations are balanced reactions. Obtaining saturated molecules is favored by low temperatures and...