Acetoxylation palladium catalysts

The homogeneous palladium-catalyzed process for acetoxylation was never commercialized because of low selectivity and the difficulty in separating the catalyst from the reaction mixture. Heterogeneous palladium catalysts applied in the gas phase, in turn, quickly lose activity caused by buildup of polybutadiene. The Mitsubishi process uses a Pd-Te-on-active-carbon catalyst in the liquid phase. Tellurium apparently prevents palladium elution to acetic acid. 

Such a stabilization of the palladium catalyst can also be achieved in homogeneous liquid phase by the use of appropriate ligands. Thus, it has recently been shown that palladium(II) hydroxamates are effective catalysts for the acetoxylation of ethylene with high selectivity and a high turnover (>200) (equation (162), whereas Pd(OAc)2 rapidly becomes deactivated and precipitates in the form of metallic palladium.419 It is probable that the bidentate hydroxamate ligand stabilizes the hydride Pd—H species and prevents palladium from precipitating. 

Acetoxylation of propene to allyl acetate can be performed in the liquid phase with high selectivity (98%) in acetic acid in the presence of catalytic amounts of palladium trifluoroacetate. The stability and activity of this catalyst can be considerably increased by adding copper (II) trifluoroacetate and sodium acetate as cocatalysts (100 °C, 15 bar, reaction time = 4 h, conversion = 70%, selectivity = 97%). Gas-phase procedures for the manufacture of allyl acetate are described in several patents and use conventional palladium catalysts deposited on alumina or silica, together with cocatalysts (Au, Fe, Bi, etc.) and sodium acetate. The activity and selectivity reported for these catalysts are very high (100-1000 g l-1 h-1, selectivity = 90-95% ).427 A similar procedure has been used for the synthesis of methallyl acetate from 2-methylpropene.428... 

The kinetics and the mechanism of the gas phase acetoxylation of ethylene on palladium catalyst has been the subject of many studies. These studies are based on a Langmuir-Hinshelwood type mechanism in which all reacting species are chemisorbed on the Pd surface and reaction occurs between chemisorbed species. Although a complete description is still pending a commonly accepted proposal is shown in Figure 30. 

Butene-1,4-diol is obtained by hydrolysis of 1,4-diacetoxybutene and is an intermediate for the production of tetrahydrofuran, pharmaceuticals, terpenes, polyesters, etc. [62, 63]. According to eq. (20), 1,4-diacetoxybutene is formed by acetoxylation of butadiene over a palladium catalyst. 

Palladium catalysts are widely used in liquid phase aerobic oxidations, and numerous examples have been employed for large-scale chemical production (Scheme 8.1). Several industrially important examples are the focus ofdedicated chapters in this book Wacker and Wacker-type oxidation of alkenes into aldehydes, ketones, and acetals (Scheme 8.1a Chapters 9 and 11), 1,4-diacetoxylation of 1,3-butadiene (Scheme 8.1b Chapter 10), and oxidative esterification of methacrolein to methyl methacrylate (Scheme 8.1c Chapter 13). In this introductory chapter, we survey a number of other Pd-catalyzed oxidation reactions that have industrial significance, including acetoxylation of ethylene to vinyl acetate (Scheme 8. Id), oxidative carbonylation of alcohols to dialkyl oxalates and carbonates (Scheme 8.1e), and oxidative coupling of dimethyl phthalate to 3,3, 4,4 -tetramethyl biphenylcarboxy-late (Scheme 8.1f). 

Substitution of acetic acid for water as solvent in the Wacker process leads to the formation of vinyl acetate (ethenyl ethanoate) from ethylene by an essentially identical mechanism (called acetoxylation ). This liquid phase system (chlorides in acetic acid) is exceedingly corrosive. However, the use of supported palladium catalysts in the liquid phase provides modest rates... 

The production of vinylacetate by oxidative acetoxylation is one industrial process with ethylene and in the presence of a palladium catalyst as shown in eq. (20.56) [206]. 

In fact, the role of copper and oxygen in the Wacker Process is certainly more complicated than indicated in equations (151) and (152) and in Scheme 10, and could be similar to that previously discussed for the rhodium/copper-catalyzed ketonization of terminal alkenes. Hosokawa and coworkers have recently studied the Wacker-type asymmetric intramolecular oxidative cyclization of irons-2-(2-butenyl)phenol (132) by 02 in the presence of (+)-(3,2,10-i -pinene)palladium(II) acetate (133) and Cu(OAc)2 (equation 156).413 It has been shown that the chiral pinanyl ligand is retained by palladium throughout the reaction, and therefore it is suggested that the active catalyst consists of copper and palladium linked by an acetate bridge. The role of copper would be to act as an oxygen carrier capable of rapidly reoxidizing palladium hydride into a hydroperoxide species (equation 157).413 Such a process is also likely to occur in the palladium-catalyzed acetoxylation of alkenes (see Section 61.3.4.3). 

It should be noted that heterogeneous palladium acetoxylation catalysts do not contain copper cooxidants, presumably because the support stabilizes the resulting palladium(II) hydride such as (136) and prevents the formation of metallic palladium. The stabilized palladium hydride (136) may react with 02 to give the hydroperoxide (137), which is probably an important intermediate for the regeneration of the initial Pd11 catalyst. 

Acetoxylation of toluene using a Pd(OAc)2-Sn(OAc)2-charcoal catalyst selectively produces benzyl acetate with high turnover numbers ( 100).373,434 The active catalyst presumably contains Pd—Sn bonds. Tin ligands are known to increase the 7r-acceptor ability of palladium, and may favor the coordination of the toluene in the form of a benzylic 7r-allyl complex (141) which is nucleophilically attacked by the acetate anion.435... 

---