On the Role of Water in Heterogeneous Catalysis: A Tribute to Professor M. Wyn Roberts

From the earliest studies of heterogeneous catalysis, it was apparent that water plays a more important role in many systems than simply acting as a solvent. Its wide ranging effects have attracted increasing attention in recent years and was the topic of Prof. M.W. Roberts' final paper. The present review explores some of the latest work on water in reactions ranging from CO oxidation to Fischer-Tropsch catalysis, the different mechanisms proposed for its role are discussed and compared.