 It may be of interest to note that Raney's choice of the nickel-aluminium ratio was fortuitous and without any real scientific basis.However, this is the preferred alloy composition for production of Raney nickel catalysts currently in use.In 1992 the Organic Reactions Catalysis Society (ORCS) created the Murray Raney Award "for contributions in the use of sponge metal catalysts in organic synthesis".