The aim of this work is to contribute to an explanation of the lowerin9 of the specific activity of Pd/AI20 3 catalysts, towards hydrogenation of acetylenic molecules, as the dispersion increases. For this purpose, the interaction energy between these catalysts and H 2, CO, propylene and propyne was directly measured by adsorption microcalorimetry at 323 K. In the case of propyne, the enthalpy of adsorption was found to be more than 50% higher for the catalysts with 97% dispersion than for the one with 26% dispersion, for coverages ranging from 0.2 to 0.7. This high enthalpy of adsorption (up to 290 kJ. mol-1) is attributed to a different proportion of edges and crystalline planes in the smallest Pd crystallites and is indeed consistent with a "blocking" chemisorption or with a hindered desorption of the products of a catalytic hydrogenation, i.e. with a lowering of the specific activity.