Biphasic ionic liquid-supported catalyst

An ionic liquid was fully immobilized, rather than merely supported, on the surface of silica through a multiple-step synthesis as shown in Fig. 15 (97). A ligand tri(m-sulfonyl)triphenyl phosphine tris(l-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium) salt (tppti) was prepared so that the catalyst, formed from dicarbonylacetylacetonate rhodium and the ligand (P/Rh = 10), could be soluble in both [BMIMJBFq and [BMIM]PF6. The supported ionic liquid-catalyst systems showed nearly three times higher rate of reaction (rate constant = 65 min ) that a biphasic system for the hydroformylation of 1-hexene at 100°C and 1500 psi in a batch reactor, but the n/i selectivity was nearly constant the same for the two ( 2.4). Unfortunately, both the supported and the biphasic ionic liquid systems exhibited similar metal leaching behavior. 

The hydroformylation of 1-hexene by supported ionic liquid catalysis (SILC) was recently reported by researchers at ExxonMobil. In this system, the active catalyst HRh(CO)(tppti)3 (tppti = tri(m-sulfonyl)triphenyl phosphine tris(l-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium)) is contained within the ionic liquid phase while excess tppti ligand is immobilized in the support material. TOP values of 65 min" were obtained with silc while an unsupported biphasic ionic liquid medium gave TOP values of 23 min. ... 

In the previous sections the use of catalysts dissolved in ionic liquids has been documented with a variety of examples from the most recent literature. They were classified are catalytic systems based on the adoption of Strategies A, B and C, when solvent-less conditions were not adopted. In an ideal liquid-liquid biphasic system, the IL must dissolve the catalytic intermediates and, in part, the substrate to avoid that mass transfer limits reaction rates. Moreover, products should have a limited solubility in the IL to allow a facile product removal or extraction, and, possibly, the recycle of the ionic liquid-trapped catalyst. The separation of the catalyst from the products is made easier if solid support-immobilised ILs are used. The preference for a solid catalyst is dictated not only by the easier separation but also, as outlined by Mehnert in an excellent review article, " by (i) the possible use of fixed bed reactors, and (ii) the use of a limited amount of IL, a generally expensive chemical which can limit the economic viability of the process. In this section attention will be focused only on the most recent examples of solid-phase assisted catalysis using ionic liquids, following Strategy D. Examples prior to 2006 are covered in recent reviews and will not be discussed here. " ... 

For all reactions studied, the activity of the supported catalysts was higher than for the similar biphasic ionic liquid system, which was ascribed to improved mass transfer between the substrates and the ionic liquid phase. In addition, the observed product selectivities of 64-87% and enantioselectivity of 97% for the SILP-Ru-(S)-BINAP catalyzed reaction equalled those of the homogeneous reference reactions. No indication of rhodium metal leeching was found by AAS analysis of the reaction filtrate. 

The supported nanoparticle catalyst system was used for solvent-free hydrogenation reactions of cydohexene, 1-hexene, and 1,3-dicydohexadiene, respectively, and compared with a similar biphasic ionic liquid system and with a heterogeneous supported nanocatalyst (Table 5.6-6). 

Highly polar organocatalysts such as amino acids and peptides are almost insoluble in conventional organic solvents, but they are soluble in ionic liquids. Because of these physical properties, asymmetric syntheses in ionic liquids under biphasic condition have been reported [124], Recently, combinations of solid catalysts and ionic liquids have been studied intensively. The supported ionic liquid phase catalyst is a new generation of the supported liquid-phase catalyst [125]. The supported ionic liquid phase catalyst 232 is readily prepared by adsorption of (S)-proline 13... 

Room temperature ionic liquids are air stable, non-flammable, nonexplosive, immiscible with many Diels-Alder components and adducts, do not evaporate easily and act as support for the catalyst. They are useful solvents, especially for moisture and oxygen-sensitive reactants and products. In addition they are easy to handle, can be used in a large thermal range (typically —40 °C to 200 °C) and can be recovered and reused. This last point is particularly important when ionic liquids are used for catalytic reactions. The reactions are carried out under biphasic conditions and the products can be isolated by decanting the organic layer. 

The most important biphasic liquid systems are probably those that combine a conventional organic phase with another type of solvent, such as water, a fluorous organic solvent, or an ionic liquid [3]. In those cases the solvent can be considered as the support for the catalyst phase and we have therefore limited the examples in this review to those where the recycled liquid catalyst phase is recovered as a whole. 

These alternative processes can be divided into two main categories, those that involve insoluble (Chapter 3) or soluble (Chapter 4) supports coupled with continuous flow operation or filtration on the macro - nano scale, and those in which the catalyst is immobilised in a separate phase from the product. These chapters are introduced by a discussion of aqueous biphasic systems (Chapter 5), which have already been commercialised. Other chapters then discuss newer approaches involving fluorous solvents (Chapter 6), ionic liquids (Chapter 7) and supercritical fluids (Chapter 8). 

The term Supported Ionic Liquid Phase (SILP) catalysis has recently been introduced into the literature to describe the heterogenisation of a homogeneous catalyst system by confining an ionic liquid solution of catalytically active complexes on a solid support [68], In comparison to the conventional liquid-liquid biphasic catalysis in organic-ionic liquid mixtures, the concept of SILP-catalysis offers very efficient use of the ionic liquid. Figure 7.10 exemplifies the concept for the Rh-catalysed hydroformylation. 

A rather new concept for biphasic reactions with ionic liquids is the supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) concept [115]. The SILP catalyst consists of a dissolved homogeneous catalyst in ionic liquid, which covers a highly porous support material (Fig. 41.13). Based on the surface area of the solid support and the amount of the ionic liquid medium, an average ionic liquid layer thickness of between 2 and 10 A can be estimated. This means that the mass transfer limitations in the fluid/ionic liquid system are greatly reduced. Furthermore, the amount of ionic liquid required in these systems is very small, and the reaction can be carried in classical fixed-bed reactors. 

Table 41.17 Comparative hydrogenation studies using supported ionic liquid catalysts, biphasic catalyst systems and the classical homogeneous catalyst systems [116].a) ... 

In the ideal biphasic hydrogenation process, the substrate will be more soluble or partially soluble in the immobilization solvent and the hydrogenation product will be insoluble as this facilitates both reaction and product separation. Mixing problems are sometimes encountered with biphasic processes and much work has been conducted to elucidate exactly where catalysis takes place (see Chapter 2). Clearly, if the substrates are soluble in the catalyst support phase, then mixing is not an issue. The hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexane in tetrafluoroborate ionic liquids exploits the differing solubilities of the substrate and product. The solubility of benzene and cyclohexane has been measured in... 

SILC was also used without covalently anchoring the ionic liquid fragment to the silica support. In this case, [bmim][PF6] was simply added to silica in acetone together with the catalyst. [Rh(norbornadiene)(PPh3)2]PF6 and the solvent evaporated to yield the supported catalyst-philic phase. Catalyst evaluation on the hydrogenation of model olefins showed enhanced activity in comparison to homogeneous and biphasic reaction systems, in analogy to Davis s observations. Also... 

Supporting ionic liquids in the pores of solid materials offers the advantage of high surface areas between the reactant phase and that containing the supported liquid catalyst. This approach is particularly useful for reactants with less than desired solubility in the bulk liquid phase. Another incentive for using such catalysts is that they can be used in continuous processes with fixed-bed reactors (26S). The use of an ionic liquid in the supported phase in addition to an active catalyst can help to improve product selectivity, with the benefit being similar to what was shown for biphasic systems. However, care has to be taken to avoid leaching the supported liquids, particularly when the reactants are concentrated in a liquid phase. 

Due to the good solubility of organometallic compounds, ionic liquids have been used as reaction media, replacing traditional molecular solvents, or as the catalyst-supporting phase in a biphasic system. Influences of the ionic liquid on the reaction rate and selectivity can mostly be explained by the reactivity of the anion, which can be noncoordinating or coordinating as well as Lewis-acidic, Lewis-basic or neutral. The cation, in contrast, is considered to be essentially noncoordinating and innocent. 

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