Catalytic biphasic system

Examples of applying biphasic systems to catalyzed reactions, such as phase-transfer catalysis, overpower the stoichiometric reactions. In a typical catalytic biphasic system, one phase contains the catalyst, while the other phase contains the substrate. In some systems, the catalyst and substrates are in the same phase, while the product produced is transferred to the second phase. In a typical reaction, when the two phases are mixed during the reaction and after completion, the catalyst remains in one phase ready for recycling while the product can be isolated from the second phase. The most common solvent combination consists of an organic solvent combined with another immiscible solvent that, in most applications, is water. However, there are few examples of suitable water-soluble and stable catalysts, and therefore various applications are limited to some extent [192]. Immiscible solvents other than water are recently becoming more applicable in biphasic catalysis because of the better solubility and stability of various catalysts in such solvents. For example, ionic liquids and fluorous solvents have many successful applications in liquid-liquid... 

Gerbase AE, Gregdrio JR, MartineUi M, Brazil MC, Mendes ANF. Epoxidation of soybean oil by the methyltrioxorhenium-CHjClj/HjOj catalytic biphasic system. J Am Oil Chem Soc 2002 79 179-181. 

In contrast to oxoesters, the a-protons of thioesters are sufficiently acidic to permit continuous racemization of the substrate by base-catalyzed deprotonation at the a-carbon. Drueckhammer et al. first demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by performing DKR of a propionate thioester bearing a phenylthiogroup, which also contributes to the acidity of the a-proton (Figure 4.14) [39a]. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the thioester was coupled with a racemization catalyzed by trioctylamine. Owing to the insolubility of the substrate and base in water, they employed a biphasic system (toluene/H2O). Using P. cepacia (Amano PS-30) as the enzyme and a catalytic amount of trioctylamine, they obtained a quantitative yield of the corresponding... 

Other metals can also be used as a catalytic species. For example, Feringa and coworkers <96TET3521> have reported on the epoxidation of unfunctionalized alkenes using dinuclear nickel(II) catalysts (i.e., 16). These slightly distorted square planar complexes show activity in biphasic systems with either sodium hypochlorite or t-butyl hydroperoxide as a terminal oxidant. No enantioselectivity is observed under these conditions, supporting the idea that radical processes are operative. In the case of hypochlorite, Feringa proposed the intermediacy of hypochlorite radical as the active species, which is generated in a catalytic cycle (Scheme 1). 

Lin and coworkers disclosed that, at room temperature, nonenzymatic chemical addition was still observed in a water-organic solvent biphasic reaction system, though the volume of aqueous phases was relative small. Lin developed a method of preparing an active enzyme meal that contained essential water to retain its power for catalysis and found a new catalytic reaction system by application of the prepared meal in a nonaqueous monophasic organic medium (Figure 5.7). There was no problem over a wide range of temperature (from 0-30 °C) when the reactions were carried out under micro-aqueous conditions [50]. 

In a homogeneous system, the rate of diffusion in the system can be directly related to the rate of the reaction as it governs the number of times the catalyst will interact with the reactants over a set time. In a biphasic system, diffusion still affects the rate of reaction, as this is dependent on the catalyst and reactants meeting. However, the rate of diffusion also affects the time it takes for the reactants to reach the place where the reaction takes place. How diffusion affects rate depends on the catalytic turnover. 

In many biphasic systems, constant stirring creates a fine emulsion, where droplets of one solvent become suspended in the other. In this emulsion the surface area between the two phases is increased, providing a bigger surface for either the catalytic reaction to occur or the reactants to diffuse across to react in the bulk solvent. 

Propylene carbonate is a good solvent of the rhodium precursor [Rh(acac) (00)2] and the phosphite ligand BIPHEPHOS and can thus be used as the catalyst phase in the investigation of the isomerizing hydroformylation of trans-4-octene to n-nonanal in a biphasic system [24]. As already mentioned, the reaction products can be extracted with the hydrocarbon dodecane. Instead of an additional extraction after the catalytic reaction, we carried out in-situ extraction experiments, where the products are separated from the catalytic propylene carbonate phase while the reaction is still in progress. Conversion of 96% and selectivity of 72% was achieved under comparably mild conditions (p(CO/H2) = 10 bar, T = 125 °C, 4 h, substrate/Rh = 200 1). 

We showed that the application of PEG/CO2 biphasic catalysis is also possible in aerobic oxidations of alcohols [15]. With regard to environmental aspects it is important to develop sustainable catalytic technologies for oxidations with molecular oxygen in fine chemicals synthesis, as conventional reactions often generate large amoimts of heavy metal and solvent waste. In the biphasic system, palladium nanoparticles can be used as catalysts for oxidation reactions because the PEG phase both stabilises the catalyst particles and enables product extraction with SCCO2. 

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