The present invention relates to new metal compounds, to a process for the preparation of these metal compounds and to their use as catalysts.The new metal compounds according to the invention have, when they are used as catalysts, in particular as hydrogenation catalysts, an efficiency of the same order as that obtained with Raney nickel or cobalt.These metal compounds are more precisely compounds containing one or a number of divalent metals at least partially in the reduced state, bulked by a phase comprising one or a number of doping metals chosen from chromium, molybdenum, iron, manganese, titanium, vanadium, gallium, indium, bismuth, yttrium, cerium, lanthanum and the other trivalent lanthanides, in the form of oxides.