Phase catalysts

When two reactants in a catalytic process have such different solubiUty properties that they can hardly both be present in a single Hquid phase, the reaction is confined to a Hquid—Hquid interface and is usually slow. However, the rate can be increased by orders of magnitude by appHcation of a phase-transfer catalyst (40,41), and these are used on a large scale in industrial processing (see Catalysts, phase-TRANSFEr). Phase-transfer catalysts function by faciHtating mass transport of reactants between the Hquid phases. Often most of the reaction takes place close to the interface. 

Thermal Degradation and Sintering Thermally iaduced deactivation of catalysts may result from redispersion, ie, loss of catalytic surface area because of crystal growth ia the catalyst phase (21,24,33) or from sintering, ie, loss of catalyst-support area because of support coUapse (18). Sintering processes generally take... 

In contrast to reactors involving the use of solid catalyst phases, there are reactors that use two liquid phases. An example is the... 

Biphasic catalysis in a liquid-liquid system is an ideal approach through which to combine the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. The reaction mixture consists of two immiscible solvents. Only one phase contains the catalyst, allowing easy product separation by simple decantation. The catalyst phase can be recycled without any further treatment. However, the right combination of catalyst, catalyst solvent, and product is crucial for the success of biphasic catalysis [22]. The catalyst solvent has to provide excellent solubility for the catalyst complex without competing with the reaction substrate for the free coordination sites at the catalytic center. 

Although the reactants have only limited solubility in the catalyst phase, the rates of hydrogenation in [BMIM][SbFg] are almost five times faster than for the comparable reaction in acetone. All ionic catalyst solutions tested could be reused repeatedly. The loss of rhodium through leaching into the organic phase lay below the detection limit of 0.02 %. These results are of general importance for the field of... 

Despite the limited solubility of 1-octene in the ionic catalyst phase, a remarkable activity of the platinum catalyst was achieved [turnover frequency (TOP) = 126 h ]. However, the system has to be carefully optimized to avoid significant formation of hydrogenated by-product. Detailed studies to identify the best reaction conditions revealed that, in the chlorostannate ionic liquid [BMIM]Cl/SnCl2 [X(SnCl2) = 0.55],... 

The reaction was carried out in an ionic liquid/toluene biphasic system, which allowed easy product recovery from the catalyst by decantation. However, attempts to recycle the ionic catalyst phase resulted in significant catalyst deactivation after only the third recycle. 

To produce reliable data on the lifetime and overall activity of the ionic catalyst system, a loop reactor was constructed and the reaction was carried out in continuous mode [105]. Some results of these studies are presented in Section 5.3, together with much more detailed information about the processing of biphasic reactions with an ionic liquid catalyst phase. 

Obviously, there are many good reasons to study ionic liquids as alternative solvents in transition metal-catalyzed reactions. Besides the engineering advantage of their nonvolatile natures, the investigation of new biphasic reactions with an ionic catalyst phase is of special interest. The possibility of adjusting solubility properties by different cation/anion combinations permits systematic optimization of the biphasic reaction (with regard, for example, to product selectivity). Attractive options to improve selectivity in multiphase reactions derive from the preferential solubility of only one reactant in the catalyst solvent or from the in situ extraction of reaction intermediates from the catalyst layer. Moreover, the application of an ionic liquid catalyst layer permits a biphasic reaction mode in many cases where this would not be possible with water or polar organic solvents (due to incompatibility with the catalyst or problems with substrate solubility, for example). 

The major advantage of the use of two-phase catalysis is the easy separation of the catalyst and product phases. FFowever, the co-miscibility of the product and catalyst phases can be problematic. An example is given by the biphasic aqueous hydro-formylation of ethene to propanal. Firstly, the propanal formed contains water, which has to be removed by distillation. This is difficult, due to formation of azeotropic mixtures. Secondly, a significant proportion of the rhodium catalyst is extracted from the reactor with the products, which prevents its efficient recovery. Nevertheless, the reaction of ethene itself in the water-based Rh-TPPTS system is fast. It is the high solubility of water in the propanal that prevents the application of the aqueous biphasic process [5]. 

One of the key factors controlling the reaction rate in multiphasic processes (for reactions talcing place in the bulk catalyst phase) is the reactant solubility in the catalyst phase. Thanks to their tunable solubility characteristics, the use of ionic liquids as catalyst solvents can be a solution to the extension of aqueous two-phase catalysis to organic substrates presenting a lack of solubility in water, and also to moisture-sensitive reactants and catalysts. With the different examples presented below, we show how ionic liquids can have advantageous effects on reaction rate and on the selectivity of homogeneous catalyzed reactions. 

In comparison with catalytic reactions in compressed CO2 alone, many transition metal complexes are much more soluble in ionic liquids without the need for special ligands. Moreover, the ionic liquid catalyst phase provides the potential to activate and tune the organometallic catalyst. Furthermore, product separation from the catalyst is now possible without exposure of the catalyst to changes of temperature, pressure, or substrate concentration. 

In these laboratory studies the active catalyst phase (Pt) is highly dispersed on an electronically conductive support (C, Au) in contact with the electrolyte. 

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. 

The question remaining now to be addressed is the role of reactants and catalyst phases in the network of reactions leading to CO, Hj and carbon. For that purpose pulse reaction/titration experiments using the individual reactants mostly in sequence were applied. 

A method has been developed for the continuous removal and reuse of a homogeneous rhodium hydroformylation catalyst. This is done using solvent mixtures that become miscible at reaction temperature and phase separate at lower temperatures. Such behavior is referred to as thermomorphic, and it can be used separate the expensive rhodium catalysts from the aldehydes before they are distilled. In this process, the reaction mixture phase separates into an organic phase that contains the aldehyde product and an aqueous phase that contains the rhodium catalyst. The organic phase is separated and sent to purification, and the aqueous rhodium catalyst phase is simply recycled. 

Two separate 2.1 L reservoirs contain the catalyst and product phases and the contents are fed into the reactor through a standard liquid mass flow controller. The contents of the reactor can be sampled from a pressure fed sample tube. The pressurized liquid reactor products exit the reactor through a pressure control valve, which reduces the pressure to atmospheric, and the liquid contents are delivered to a continuous decanter where the phases separate. The catalyst phase then settles to the bottom where it is drained for recycle and reuse, while the product phase is collected into a 4.2 L reservoir. 

Phosphine soluble in aqueous catalyst in catalyst phase unsuitable... 

It is important to note that with the phosphinocobaltocenium ligand cdpp the reaction took place almost exclusively in the ionic liquid phase (ca. 0.5% of the Rh was found in the product layer after reaction). The catalyst phase was separated from the product by decantation. Moreover, the recovered ionic catalyst solution could be reused at least once more with similar reactivity to that in the original run. 

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