Organic chemicals, production catalysis

Chemical Synthesis The traditional tools of chemical synthesis in use today are organic and inorganic synthesis and catalysis. Synthesis is the efficient conversion of raw materials such as minerals, petroleum, natural gases, coal, and biomass into more useful molecules and products catalysis is the process by which chemical reactions are either accelerated or slowed by the addition of a substance that is not changed in the chemical reaction. Catalysis-based chemical syntheses account for 60% of today s chemical products and 90% of current chemical processes (Collins, 2001). 

Based on the entire set of data on the important catalytic performance of this class of organic compounds in chemical and biological systems, the far-reaching conclusion can be made that biomimics will provide a foundation for catalysis chemists to solve future applied tasks of catalysis. In particular, it is the author s opinion that the unique properties of porphyrins will open new perspectives for chemical technology in the creation of highly effective chemical production. 

The synthesis of acetaldehyde by oxidation of ethylene, generally known as the Wacker process, was a major landmark in the application of homogeneous catalysis to industrial organic chemistry. It was also a major step in the displacement of acetylene (made from calcium carbide) as the feedstock for the manufacture of organic chemicals. Acetylene-based acetaldehyde was a major intermediate for production of acetic acid and butyraldehyde. However the cost was high because a large energy input is required to produce acetylene. The acetylene process still survives in a few East European countries and in Switzerland, where low cost acetylene is available. 

The carbonylation of reactive organic substrates, up to now, has been the most applied and investigated aspect of CO catalysis because of its large industrial applications [1 ]. We shall limit our discussion to the carbonylation of unsaturated hydrocarbons, since the direct carbonylation of organic halides, or similar activated organic derivatives, has implications that are mainly limited to fine chemical production (with the exception of methanol) [2,3. ... 

An important modern example of homogeneous catalysis is provided by the Monsanto process in which the rhodium compound 1.4 catalyses a reaction, resulting in the addition of carbon monoxide to methanol to form ethanoic acid (acetic acid). Another well-known process is hydro-formylation, in which the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen with an alkene, RCH=CH2, forms an aldehyde, RCH2CH2CHO. Certain cobalt or rhodium compounds are effective catalysts for this reaction. In addition to catalytic applications, non-catalytic stoichiometric reactions of transition elements now play a major role in the production of fine organic chemicals and pharmaceuticals. 

Biocatalysis is one of a number of forms of chemical catalysis (Fig. 1) that can be utilized to synthesize a variety of organic chemicals. Over 60% of the 135 MM tons of organic chemicals produced in the United States involve a catalytic step somewhere in their manufacture (1,2). In recent years many reports and reviews extolling the virtues of biocatalysis for the production of chemicals have been released (e.g., 3-9). However, there have still been very few examples of commercial chemical processes introduced in the last few years that utilize a biocatalyst, for example, the acrylamide process (10-12). There has been small but growing concern as to the validity of the expectations placed on bioconversion-based chemical process (13). 

Allylic oxidation, that is, the selective oxidation of olefins at the allylic position, represents a substantial portion of the production of important organic chemicals by heterogeneous oxidation. Furthermore, the development and study of selective catalysts for allylic oxidation has led not only to successful commercial processes, but also to important concepts concerning selective oxidation and the phenomena of catalysis in general. 

The overwhelmingly dominant technology in chemicaIs-reIated industries is catalysis. Commercial catalytic processes account for over half of all fuels production and for 60X of the 135 MM metric tons of organic chemicals produced annually in the U.S. In fact 20% of the nation s CNP can be attributed to catalytic processes (1). Thus, from a technical standpoint, advances in the chemicals industry are strongly linked to advances in catalysis. 

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