Chlorides Wacker process

Among the most significant developments in the field of catalysis in recent years have been the discovery and elucidation of various new, and often novel, catalytic reactions of transition metal ions and coordination compounds 13, 34). Examples of such reactions are the hydrogenation of olefins catalyzed by complexes of ruthenium (36), rhodium (61), cobalt (52), platinum (3, 26, 81), and other metals the hydroformylation of olefins catalyzed by complexes of cobalt or rhodium (Oxo process) (6, 46, 62) the dimerization of ethylene (i, 23) and polymerization of dienes (15, 64, 65) catalyzed by complexes of rhodium double-bond migration in olefins catalyzed by complexes of rhodium (24,42), palladium (42), cobalt (67), platinum (3, 5, 26, 81), and other metals (27) the oxidation of olefins to aldehydes, ketones, and vinyl esters, catalyzed by palladium chloride (Wacker process) (47, 48, 49,... 

In the Wacker process, the reaction is actually carried out in dilute HCl at a high concentration of chloride ion and an elevated temperature. The high concentration of CUCI2 shifts the equilibrium further to the right. 

The palladium chloride process for oxidizing olefins to aldehydes in aqueous solution (Wacker process) apparendy involves an intermediate anionic complex such as dichloro(ethylene)hydroxopalladate(II) or else a neutral aqua complex PdCl2 (CH2=CH2)(H2 0). The coordinated PdCl2 is reduced to Pd during the olefin oxidation and is reoxidized by the cupric—cuprous chloride couple, which in turn is reoxidized by oxygen, and the net reaction for any olefin (RCH=CH2) is then... 

The Wacker process uses an aqueous solution of palladium(II) chloride, copper(II) chloride catalyst system. 

With the growing prominence of the petrochemicals industry this technology was, in turn, replaced by direct air oxidation of naphtha or butane. Both these processes have low selectivities but the naphtha route is still used since it is a valuable source of the co-products, formic and propanoic acid. The Wacker process, which uses ethylene as a feedstock for palladium/copper chloride catalysed synthesis of acetaldehyde, for which it is still widely used (Box 9.1), competed with the direct oxidation routes for a number of years. This process, however, produced undesirable amounts of chlorinated and oxychlorinated by-products, which required separation and disposal. 

Palladium-catalyzed oxidation of hydrocarbons has been a matter of intense research for about four decades. The field was initiated by the development of the aerobic oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde catalyzed by palladium chloride and co-catalyzed by cupric chloride (the Wacker process, equation l)1. 

Hoechst-Uhde (2) A variation of the Wacker process, which makes vinyl acetate from ethylene and acetic acid. The catalyst is an aqueous solution of palladium and copper chlorides. 

Early mechanistic studies have indicated that the oxypalladation step in the Wacker process proceeds through an <37z/z-pathway,399 although recent deuterium-labeling experiments have shown the viability of a yy/z-mechanism involving insertion of a metal-coordinated oxygen into the alkene.400,401 For example, with excess chloride ion present, the Wacker-type cyclization of a deuterated phenol system occurred in a primarily //-pathway, whereas the oxypalladation step favored a yy/z-mode in the absence of excess chloride ion (Scheme 16). Thus, either mechanism may be operative under a given set of experimental conditions. 

The more expedient, direct catalytic oxidation route to acetone was developed in Germany in the 1960s. If you had been in charge of building the acetone business from scratch, you d probably not have built any IPA-to-acetone plants if you had known about the Wacker process. It s a catalytic oxidation of propylene at 200—250°F and 125—200 psi over palladium chloride with a cupric (copper) chloride promoter. The yields are 91-94%. The hardware for the Wacker process is probably less than for the combined IPA/acetone plants. But once the latter plants were built, the economies of the Wacker process were not sufficient to shut them down and start all over. So the new technology never took hold in the United States. 

With reaction conditions of 200-225°F, 150—225 psi, and a palladium chloride-cupric chloride catalyst, MEK yields are 80-90%. The operating costs of the Wacker process for MEK (and acetone and several other petrochemicals as well) are relatively low. But the plant Is made of more expensive materials. Because of the corrosive nature of the catalyst solution, critical vessels, and the piping are titanium-based.(chats expensive ), and the reactor is rubber-lined, acid-resistant brick. ... 

The previous examples involve reduction (hydrogenation) of organic molecules, but transition metal complexes can also catalyze oxidation. For example, the Wacker process, which has been widely used to convert ethylene to acetaldehyde, depends on catalysis by palladium(II) in the presence of copper(II) in aqueous HC1. The role of the copper chloride is to provide a means of using air to reoxidize the palladium to palladium(II). Once again, Zeise-type coordination of the ethylene to the metal center is believed to be involved ... 

Although the oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde was known for a number of years,506 its utility depended on the catalytic regeneration of Pd(0) in situ with cop-per(II) chloride discovered by Smidt and coworkers.507 508 Air oxidation of Cu(I) to Cu(n) makes a complete catalytic cycle. This coupled three-step transformation is known as the Wacker process [Eqs. (9.97)-(9.99)]. The overall reaction [Eq. (9.100)] is the indirect oxidation with oxygen of alkenes to carbonyl compounds ... 

One of the earliest uses of palladium(II) salts to activate alkenes towards additions with oxygen nucleophiles is the industrially important Wacker process, wherein ethylene is oxidized to acetaldehyde using a palladium(II) chloride catalyst system in aqueous solution under an oxygen atmosphere with cop-per(II) chloride as a co-oxidant.1,2 The key step in this process is nucleophilic addition of water to the palladium(II)-complexed ethylene. As expected from the regioselectivity of palladium(II)-assisted addition of nucleophiles to alkenes, simple terminal alkenes are efficiently converted to methyl ketones rather than aldehydes under Wacker conditions. 

The oxidation of olefins to aldehydes using a palladium chloride-copper(II) chloride catalyst, the Wacker Process, is a well-established industrial reaction. The mechanism of this reaction has not been established in detail, but it most probably involves a cr-7r rearrangement... 

Acetic acid is manufactured by three processes acetaldehyde oxidation, //-butane oxidation, and methanol carbonylation.Ethylene is the exclusive organic raw material for making acetaldehyde, 70 percent of which is further oxidized to acetic acid or acetic anhydride. The single-stage (Wacker) process for making acetaldehyde involves cupric chloride and a small amount of palladium chloride in aqueous solution as a catalyst. 

The aqueous palladium chloride oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde has been developed into an important commercial process. The discovery of how to make the reaction catalytic with respect to palladium chloride was, perhaps, as important to the process as the discovery of the oxidation reaction itself. This process known as the Wacker-Process, employs cupric chloride as a catalyst for the oxygen (air) reoxidation of... 

Wacker Process The Wacker process is primarily used to produce acetaldehyde from the oxidation of ethylene by palladium(II)Copper(II) chloride solution. 

Fig Proposed mechanism for the oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde in the Wacker process. Chloride ligands have been omitted. The oxidation number ofpalladium is + 2 at all stages of this cycle except the upper left where eductive elimination of acetaldehyde gives Pd (0), which is oxidised by Cu (II). The complete cycle for the reoxidation of Cu (I) is not shown. 

The invention of the Wacker process was a triumph of common sense. It had been known since 1894 that ethylene is oxidized to acetaldehyde by palladium chloride in a stoichiometric reaction (Figure 27). However, it was not until 1956 that this reaction was combined with the known reoxidation reactions of palladium by copper and, in turn of copper by oxygen. The total process developed by Wacker and Hoechst between 1957 and 1959 can be depicted as an exothermic catalytic direct oxidation to yield acetaldehyde. 

Copper chloride complexes can be used as catalysts in a number of organic reactions. Examples include the Wacker process, which is the oxidization of ethylene to acetaldehyde by oxygen and aqueous Cu and Pd precatalysts (or, alternatively using iron catalysts) plus the synthesis of acrylonitrile from acetylene and hydrogen cyanide using CuCl. Cuprous chloride has also been used as a desulfiuizmg and... 

Interesting properties may also be obtained when using a mixed addenda system in the presence of a co-catalyst The best known system [34d] is the V-substituted phosphomolybdate in conjunction with Pd for the oxidation of olefins to carbonyl compounds. This is analogous to the Wacker oxidation process based on CUCI2 and Pd. Unlike the Wacker process, the HPA system works at very low chloride concentration, or even in its absence. In addition the HPA is more active and selective and less corrosive. Other examples of such two-component catalytic systems include TF /TP, PT /Pt ", Ru"7Ru ", Br 7Br" and l /h-... 

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