Dehydrogenation
The dehydrogenation of alkanes implies the elimination of hydrogen. It is the opposite to hydrogenation.
Dehydrogenation is one of the most important processes in the chemistry of petroleum because it turns inert alkanes into olefins and aromatic compounds, which are much more reactive and are starting points towards any other functional group.
Oxidation is the counterpart to reduction. Reduction is the gain of hydrogen, the opposite to dehydrogenation. Therefore, chemically speaking, dehydrogenation and oxidation are also synonyms.
Dehydrogenation requires catalysts, and the search for them is the subject of active research.
This is an example of the dehydrogenation of cyclooctane with a 'pincer' iridium catalyst, so called because the molecule holds the metal like a pair of pincers.
This is an excellent example of what is called a 'catalytic cycle'. This is a kind of mechanism that describes how the reacting compound (cyclooctane) binds to the catalyst and the transformations it undergoes. There is also a 'sacrificial' compound (tert-butylethene) that accepts hydrogen from the dehydrogenation. The cycle also shows how the catalyst 'gets old' by the binding of species that make it inactive.