Are the catalysts for upgrading the weapons components that i may have a few of, or very rare ones?
Catalysts can only be used when the item is ready to evolve. On top of that you can't use a different kind of catalyst than the one actually require and you can't use too many or too few. Catalysts are basically automatic as long as you have enough, all you can do is choose to use them. On the other hand, you CAN accidentally use sells for a premium as a material. Those items are universally horrible as a material, but sell really well in the shop. Don't use them by accident, sell them as soon as you can.
catalyst's cannot be used apart from transforming items. They will be greyed out at all other times. They always say in the description can be used as a catalyst as well. btw, are you using 36 sturdy bones or vibrance ooze to get the 3x multiplyer strait up? oh yeah, never ever use any item at all that says can be sold for a premium. Always sell those items, they are worth lots of money. And when you start buying components, only ever buy particle accelerator, perfect conductor or ultra compact reactor. Perfect conductor gives least bang for $$$ out of the 3, whereas ultra compact reactor gives most bang for $$$. And the sturdy bones and vibrance ooze for multiplyer purposes. Hope this helped :)