Homogeneous (left, e.g. Wacker-type oxidation): a dissolved metal-complex catalyst and reagent molecules diffuse freely in the same liquid phase. A reagent coordinates to the metal centre, reacts, and the product desorbs back into solution — the catalyst itself is never consumed.
Heterogeneous (right, Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism on a Pt-like crystal surface):
- 1. Adsorption — gas-phase reagents stick to empty lattice sites on the solid surface.
- 2. Surface diffusion + reaction — adsorbed species hop between neighbouring sites; when two different adsorbed reactants meet, they react.
- 3. Desorption — the product leaves the surface, freeing the site for the next cycle.
Dark-red sites are permanently blocked — a simple model of catalyst poisoning, where an impurity occupies an active site and removes it from the cycle.