Deuterium tracer studies coupled with kinetic approach were developed to accurately determine the kinetic isotopic effects (KIE) for the CO hydrogenation and the formations of CO₂, CH₄ and light hydrocarbons (C₂-C₄) over iron, cobalt and ruthenium catalysts. Pronounced inverse kinetic isotope effects (IKIE) (k_co,H/k_co,D = 0.64–0.66) over the Fe and Co catalysts and a moderate IKIE (k_co,H/k_co,D = ∼0.8) on the Ru catalysts for the CO hydrogenation were obtained under typical FTS conditions. The IKIE was also found in CH₄ formation, but the Co and Ru catalysts showed stronger IKIE than the Fe catalysts (k_CH4/k_CD4 = 0.6 vs 0.87). Regardless of catalyst type, only a minor normal KIE for the CO₂ formation was obtained (k_{CO2, H}/k_{CO2, D} ˜ 1.1). The IKIE was found on various light 1-olefins and n-paraffin hydrocarbons as well. All the IKIEs can be explained by thermodynamic and kinetic isotope effects. The results suggested that deuterium was involved in quasi-equilibrated and hydrogenation steps that determined KIE. However, the Fe, Co and Ru catalysts showed different deuterium isotopic effect for the hydrocarbon selectivity. Deuterium promoted chain growth, thus lowered CH₄ and light hydrocarbons selectivities and enhanced C₅₊ selectivity on both the Fe and Co catalysts; while it enhanced the hydrogenation rate to the low hydrocarbons and suppressed the formation of heavier hydrocarbons on the Ru catalysts.

Deuterium isotopic effect on the formation of 1-olefins, n-paraffins and 2-olefins in C₁₀-C₁₈ range (in liquid phase) was also studied in detail. Deuterium was found to enhance 1-olefins formation, but suppressed or only slightly changed n-paraffins formation over the Fe and Co catalysts. However, deuterium led to greater amount of n-paraffins and less 1-olefins on the Ru catalysts. The results suggested that the IKIE originated from different hybridization changes of carbon in C–H (sp¹->sp² and/or sp²->sp³) on the Fe, Co and Ru catalysts, which implied different reaction pathways on the Fe, Co and Ru catalysts.

氘示踪剂研究与动力学方法相结合，以准确确定在铁，钴和钌催化剂上CO加氢以及形成CO ₂，CH ₄和轻烃（C ₂ -C ₄）的动力学同位素效应（KIE）。 Fe和Co催化剂具有明显的逆动力学同位素效应（IKIE）（k _co，H / k _co，D = 0.64-0.66），而Ru具有中等的IKIE（k _co，H / k _co，D =〜0.8）在典型的FTS条件下获得了用于CO加氢的催化剂。在第₄通道中也发现了IKIE形成，但Co和Ru催化剂的IKIE比Fe催化剂强（k _CH4 / k _CD4  = 0.6 vs 0.87）。不论催化剂类型如何，仅获得用于CO ₂形成的较小的正常KIE （k _CO2，H / k _CO2， D〜1.1 ）。IKIE还存在于各种轻质1-烯烃和正链烷烃上。所有的IKIE都可以用热力学和动力学同位素效应来解释。结果表明，氘参与确定KIE的准平衡和氢化步骤。但是，Fe，Co和Ru催化剂对烃的选择性表现出不同的氘同位素效应。氘促进链增长，从而降低CH ₄Fe和Co催化剂的轻烃选择性和增强的C ₅₊选择性；同时提高了低碳氢化合物的加氢速率，并抑制了Ru催化剂上较重碳氢化合物的形成。

还详细研究了氘同位素对C ₁₀ -C ₁₈范围（液相）中1-烯烃，正链烷烃和2-烯烃形成的影响。发现氘在Fe和Co催化剂上增强了1-烯烃的形成，但是抑制了或仅轻微改变了正链烷烃的形成。但是，氘导致Ru催化剂上的正链烷烃含量更高和1-烯烃含量更低。结果表明，IKIE源自Fe，Co和Ru催化剂上C–H中碳的不同杂化变化（sp ^1- > sp ²和/或sp ^2- > sp ³），这暗示了不同的反应途径。 Fe，Co和Ru催化剂。