The Origins of Nobility

Last October the 11th Swedish Symposium on Catalysis was held at Lund University on the theme of “Precious Metals as Catalysts, and Possible Alternatives”. In an invited lecture the author explored the origins of the catalytic activity of the platinum group metals and, although dismissing the possibility of complete imitation, speculated on ways in which their electron densities might be slightly but advantageously modified. The following article is a summary of his lecture.