Heterogeneous catalysis of organic reactions

A decade's worth of work is reviewed: building on the demonstrated prowess of heterogeneous catalysis in industrial organic chemistry, the author's laboratory devised efficient catalysts for a number of organic reactions, based on aluminosilicates such as clays and zeolites. This review also spells out, at a time when creative research is overshadowed by imitative research, some of the methodological musts that also happen to characterize physical organic chemistry: the devising of experiments so that accurate numerical data can be obtained; the importance of remote, interdisciplinary connections; the need for estrangement from stereotypic preconceptions that may obscure the true explanations for the phenomena; and the over-riding need for concerning oneself only, or at least predominantly, with the important facts that nature tells, if one cares to listen.