AbstractProgress in understanding the nature of cracking catalysts has led from the early recognition of the carbonium ion intermediate to the current view which ascribes cracking activity to the acidic nature of active sites. Here we develop the concept of acid catalysis to include the specific effects of Bronsted and Lewis acid sites on gas oil cracking. It is shown that these two types of sites react with specific substrates and that each has a characteristic kinetic behaviour. This leads us to suggest that careful control of the total site density and of the proportion of Bronsted/Lewis sites can result in a catalyst which is optimized for the feedstock, reactor configuration, and product distribution desired.