Catalyst Recycling by Precipitation

Separation of catalysts from high-value products such as fine chemicals or pharmaceuticals is often accomplished by precipitating the catalyst from the product solution. Recycling of these catalysts is feasible, provided that they do not decompose. In industry, catalyst recovery by means of catalyst precipitation is applied only in relatively small batch processes. An example of such a process is the production of (—)-menthol (id) in which an Rh-BINAP isomerization catalyst converts the allylic amine substrate into (R)-citronellal (after hydrolysis of the enamine) in high yield (99%) and with high enantioselectivity (98.5% ee). After distillation of the solvent (THF) and product, the catalyst is recovered from the residue by precipitation with -heptane. 

The physical properties of dendrimers such as solubility, arising from their hyperbranched globular shapes and the peripheral groups, can be modified by end-group modification. In core-functionalized dendrimers, the immiscibility of the wedges with a solvent enables precipitation and subsequent separation by filtration. 

In periphery-functionalized dendritic catalysts, the functional groups at the surface determine the solubility and miscibility and thus the precipitation properties. Many dendrimers functionalized with organometallic complexes do not dissolve in apolar solvents, and the presence of multiple metal centers at the periphery facilitates precipitation upon addition of this type of solvent. It is emphasized that the use of dendrimer-immobilized catalysts with the goal of recovery through precipitation is worthwhile only if the tendency to precipitation of the dendritic system exceeds that of its non-dendritic equivalent. 

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