Aldehydes in hydroformylation

All isomerization reactions eventually reach their thermodynamic equilibrium, but it is sometimes possible to favour a particular isomer, for example internal alkenes can be made to give the terminal aldehydes in hydroformylation... 

Hydroformylation. Co2(CO)g is used as a catalytic precursor to convert alkenes to aldehydes in hydroformylation reactions (equation 13). Aldehydes can be further reduced to... 

The reduced models in Table 11.1 rely on the validity of the Bodenstein approximation for all intermediates except the aldehyde in hydroformylation, but are otherwise free of assumptions. In every case, equations that are as simple or even simpler have long been derived, but only with much more restrictive assumptions, most commonly that of a single rate-controlling step and quasi-equilibrium everywhere else. Of course, such equations should be used in preference if their assumptions can be substantiated. 

Selective production of either a linear or branched aldehyde in hydroformylation is quite important in affecting the further utihty of the aldehyde. Linear aldehydes can be converted into linear alcohols useful as detergents, after an aldol reaction followed by hydrogenolysis. Branched aldehydes afford important materials for pharmaceutical use, particularly when asymmetric synthesis of the branched aldehyde can be achieved [57]. 

It catalyses the aminolysis of epoxides in an extraordinarily efficient manner in aprotic solvents (e.g. toluene, CH2CI2) with complete trans stereoselectivity and high regioselectivity [Chini et al. Tetrahedron Lett 35 433 1994], It also catalyses the trans addition of indole (at position 3) to epoxides (e.g. to phenoxymetltyloxirane) in >50% yields at 60° (42 hours) under pressure (10 Kbar) and was successfully applied for an enantioselective synthesis of (+)-diolmycin A2 [Kotsuki Tetrahedron Lett 37 3727 799(5]. Of the ten lanthanide triflates, Yb(OTf)3 gave the highest yields (> 90%, see above) of condensation products by catalytically activating formaldehyde, and a variety of aldehydes, in hydroformylations and aldol reactions, respectively, with trimethylsilyl enol-ethers in THF at room temperature. All the lanthanide triflates can be recovered from these reactions for re-use. [Kobayashi Hachiya J Org Chem 59 3590 1994.]... 

Hydroformylation can be performed with cobalt and rhodium catalysts. The latter are extremely expensive, but their use is justified because they usually show much higher efficiency and selectivity, with respect to both regioselectivity (the ratio of normal to branched aldehydes in hydroformylation of terminal olefins) and the absence of side-reactions, e.g. the reduction of aldehydes to alcohols. The selectivity of catalyst is particularly important for aqueous methods to avoid the concurrent processes triggered by the water-gas shift reaction. Catalyst recycling is a vital task only for rhodium-catalyzed processes, and that is clearly reflected by research efforts. 

A catalyst may cycle only a few times and then die. Such deactivation is a serious problem for practical applications of homogeneous catalysts, but this area still attracts few studies. There are many ways in which a catalyst can fail, so we have to look hard for the right metal, ligand set, solvent, temperature range, and conditions. In the selectivity determing step of the cycle, which may or may not be turnover limiting, a choice is made between two possible pathways that lead to different products, such as between linear or branched aldehydes in hydroformylation. 

The linear aldehyde usually is the desired product. Often, this aldehyde is converted to the corresponding alcohol. Both Co and Rh complexes are used in hydroformylation. In general, Rh catalysts are more active and produce a higher n/wo-ratio. Co catalysts have higher... 

The catalysts used in hydroformylation are typically organometallic complexes. Cobalt-based catalysts dominated hydroformylation until 1970s thereafter rhodium-based catalysts were commerciahzed. Synthesized aldehydes are typical intermediates for chemical industry [5]. A typical hydroformylation catalyst is modified with a ligand, e.g., tiiphenylphoshine. In recent years, a lot of effort has been put on the ligand chemistry in order to find new ligands for tailored processes [7-9]. In the present study, phosphine-based rhodium catalysts were used for hydroformylation of 1-butene. Despite intensive research on hydroformylation in the last 50 years, both the reaction mechanisms and kinetics are not in the most cases clear. Both associative and dissociative mechanisms have been proposed [5-6]. The discrepancies in mechanistic speculations have also led to a variety of rate equations for hydroformylation processes. 

Complex 74 as a preformed catalyst, as well as the Rh(acac)(CO)2+2(17b) in an in situ catalytic system were useful in the hydroformylation of styrene and gave the branched aldehyde in regioselectivities of 65-96% [63],... 

In hydroformylating with a polar ligand modified rhodium catalyst to give a relatively non-polar aldehyde product, after the flash column, the catalyst solution is extracted with a non-polar solvent. Polar catalyst recycles from the extractor to the reactor. The non-polar solvent is removed and recycled to the extractor (see Figure 2.6). 

In addition to separating product from catalyst, excess ligand and reaction solvent, one must also separate byproducts arising from the reactants or products. For example in hydroformylation, one must separate saturated hydrocarbon, isomerized alkene and aldehyde dimers and trimers. 

The same types of catalyst have been employed in 1-octene hydroformylation, but with the substrates and products being transported to and from the reaction zone dissolved in a supercritical fluid (carbon dioxide) [9], The activity of the catalyst is increased compared with liquid phase operation, probably because of the better mass transport properties of scC02 than of the liquid. This type of approach may well reduce heavies formation because of the low concentration of aldehyde in the system, but the heavies that do form are likely to be insoluble in scC02, so may precipitate on and foul the catalyst. The main problem with this process, however, is likely to be the use of high pressure, which is common to all processes where supercritical fluids are used (see Section 9.8). 

Another route to the diol monomer is provided by hydroformylation of allyl alcohol or allyl acetate. Allyl acetate can be produced easily by the palladium-catalyzed oxidation of propylene in the presence of acetic acid in a process similar to commercial vinyl acetate production. Both cobalt-and rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylations have received much attention in recent patent literature (83-86). Hydroformylation with cobalt carbonyl at 140°C and 180-200 atm H2/CO (83) gave a mixture of three aldehydes in 85-99% total yield. 

Catalysts and Catalyst Concentration. The most active catalyst for benzaldehyde reduction appears to be rhodium [Rh6(C0)i6 precursor], but iron [as Fe3(C0)i2] and ruthenium [as Ru3(C0)12] were also examined. The results of these experiments are shown in Table 1. Consistent with earlier results (12), the rhodium catalyst is by far the most active of the metals investigated and the ruthenium catalyst has almost zero activity. The latter is consistent with the fact that ruthenium produces only aldehydes during hydroformylation. Note that a synergistic effect of mixed metals does not appear to be present in aldehyde reduction as contrasted with the noticeable effects observed for the water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) and related reactions (13). 

However, platinum catalysts have several disadvantages they have low reaction rates, they hydrogenate the substrate and their regioselectivity to the branched aldehyde is low. The selectivity of Pt-diphosphite/SnCl2 systems is also low. When the appropriate diphosphite is used, ee s can be as high as 90% [13]. In the early 90s, several reports were published which described the state of the art in hydroformylation with both rhodium and platinum systems [14-16]. 

The synthesis of aldehydes via hydroformylation of alkenes is an important industrial process used to produce in the region of 6 million tonnes a year of aldehydes. These compounds are used as intermediates in the manufacture of plasticizers, soaps, detergents and pharmaceutical products [7], While the majority of aldehydes prepared from alkene hydroformylation are done so in organic solvents, some research in 1975 showed that rhodium complexes with sulfonated phosphine ligands immobilized in water were able to hydroformylate propene with virtually complete retention of rhodium in the aqueous phase [8], Since catalyst loss is a major problem in the production of bulk chemicals of this nature, the process was scaled up, culminating in the Ruhrchemie-Rhone-Poulenc process for hydroformylation of propene, initially on a 120000 tonne per year scale [9], The development of this biphasic process represents one of the major transitions since the discovery of the hydroformylation reaction. The key transitions in this field include [10] ... 

With increasing concentration of methylated /1-cyclodextrin the selectivity to n-nonanal increases from 64% to 72%, while the conversion of the olefin is constantly as high as 97%. Obviously the addition of the methylated /i-cyclodextrin has only a moderate influence on the isomerizing hydroformylation of trans-4-octene to n-nonanal. The addition of only 0.2 mol.-% of methylated /3-cyclodextrin lowers the isomerization rate which results in the formation of slightly more branched aldehydes. In pharmacy j6-cyclodextrins are established as solvation mediators between polar and less polar solvents. This is one possible explanation for the rise in selectivity to n-nonanal with an increasing j6-cyclodextrin concentration. At higher con-... 

The hydroformylation of olefins discovered by Otto Roelen [ 151 ] is one of the most important industrial homogeneously catalyzed reactions [152,153] for the synthesis of aldehydes with an estimated production of more than 9.2 million t in 1998 [ 153]. Hydroformylation is the addition of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to a C,C double bond. Industrial processes are based on cobalt or rhodiiun catalysts according to Eq. 1. The desired products are linear (n-) and branched (i-) aldehydes, in which the hnear products are generally favored for subsequent processing. 

The ejfect of water on the conversion and selectivity of cohalt-catalyzed hydroformylations has long been noticed in industry [7,85,86], A systematic study [87] of this effect in hydroformylation of 1-octene with [Co2(CO)s] with and without P Bu3 revealed that addition of water, and especially when it formed a separate aqueous phase, significantly inaeased the hydrogenation activity of the phosphine-modified catalyst Under the same reaction conditions (190 °C, 56 bar CO H2 1 1, P Co 3 1), approximately 40 % nonanols were formed instead of 5 % observed with water-free solutions. No clear explanation could be given for this phenomenon, although the possible participation of water itself in the hydroformylation reaction through the water gas shift was mentioned. It was also established, that the [Co2(CO)g]-catalyzed hydroformylation was severly retarded in the presence of water. Under the conditions above, 95 % conversion was observed in 15 hour with no added water, while only 10 % conversion to aldehydes (no alcohols) was found in an aqueous/organic biphasic reaction. 

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