Hydrogenolysis cobalt carbonyl

Under pressure of CO and H2, the cobalt catalyst precursor is transformed into cobalt carbonyl hydride, HCo(CO)4. The main steps of the reaction mechanism, first elucidated by D. S. Breslow and R. F. Heck, involve (a) /3-hydrogen transfer to the coordinated olefin, (b) the insertion of CO to form an acyl intermediate, and (c) the hydrogenolysis of the acyl, with formation of the aldehyde product ... 

Benzyl ethers are obtained from benzylidene acetals over nickel at 180 °C." The yields are moderate, however, because the ethers are cleaved about as readily as the acetals at lower temperatures ring reduction of the hydrocarbon product is also competitive with hydrogenolysis. The best catalyst for the preparation of benzyl ethers from benzylidene acetals would appear to be cobalt carbonyl, under synthesis gas at temperatures from 128-210 °C. The active reagent is probably HCo(CO)4. 

Most hydroformylation investigations reported since 1960 have involved trialkyl or triarylphosphine complexes of cobalt and, more recently, of rhodium. Infrared studies of phosphine complex catalysts under reaction conditions as well as simple metal carbonyl systems have provided substantial information about the postulated mechanisms. Spectra of a cobalt 1-octene system at 250 atm pressure and 150°C (21) contained absorptions characteristic for the acyl intermediate C8H17COCo(CO)4 (2103 and 2002 cm-1) and Co2(CO)8. The amount of acyl species present under these steady-state conditions increased with a change in the CO/ H2 ratio in the order 3/1 > 1/1 > 1/3. This suggests that for this system under these conditions, hydrogenolysis of the acyl cobalt species is a rate-determining step. 

Recently proof has been reported for a heterometallic bimolecular formation of aldehyde from a manganese hydride and acylrhodium species [2], Phosphine free, rhodium carbonyl species show the same kinetics as the cobalt system, i.e. the hydrogenolysis of the acyl-metal bond is rate-determining. Addition of hydridomanganese pentacarbonyl led to an increase of the rate of the hydroformylation reaction. The second termination reaction that takes place according to the kinetics under the reaction conditions (10-60 bar, 25 °C) is reaction (3). The direct reaction with H2 takes place as well, but it is slower on a molar basis than the manganese hydride reaction. 

The conversion of methanol to ethanol with carbon monoxide and hydrogen has attracted considerable attention. Further carbonylation to higher alcohols occurs much more slowly, but acetic acid formation is a competing reaction and this leads to ester formation. Using CoI2 in presence of PBu 3 as catalyst, the selectivity to ethanol was improved by addition of the borate ion B4072. 399 This was attributed to an enhanced carbene-like nature of an intermediate cobalt-acyl complex by formation of a borate ester (equation 76). This would favour hydrogenolysis to... 

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