Without Spectroscopy at the Beginning, Catalysis Research Proceeded in   the Wrong Direction for More Than 100 Years
  A study by infrared spectroscopy of the physisorbed region of catalysis demonstrated that the intermediates of catalysis exist on the surface as a two dimensional gas. Data in the Atomic Energy Level tables show that of the thousands of positive ions tabulated only approximately one hundred have the low-lying excited states that produce surface electric fields with a fractional charge. The specific catalyst for a reaction has the electric field with the fractional charge which when imparted to the two reactants changes the frequency of the fields at the sites of reaction on each so that they are harmonically equal, that is their ratio is a power of two. When the two reactants meet in the electric field of the catalyst resonance occurs. It is during resonance that electrons are shared, paired and exchanged and bonds are broken and made. This analysis of catalysis explains the most extraordinary observation that a catalyst is Not consumed when used because the catalyst is the electric fields. These discoveries are applied to explain such diverse reactions as the oxidation and chlorination of carbon monoxide and the destruction of nitric oxide in automobile exhaust. The use of electric fields to produce reactions may have application not only in chemistry but in biology and mechanics as well. 
Ralph A. Gardner-Chavis, John T. Reye, Theodore B. Selover Jr,   Huixiong Zhang