Chemical Basis of the Wacker Process

Olefin oxidation proceeds rapidly, while regeneration reactions are rate determining and can be accelerated by higher HCl concentration. Thus the quantity of palladium salt required can be limited to catalytic amounts by using a large excess of CUCI2. 

Thus determination of the geometry of the insertion product differentiates between paths A and B the use of cis- and trans-Ct T)=Ci T) allowed workers to establish that the configuration of the inserted product was essentially trans, thereby indicating B as the prevailing pathway. 

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