Cobalt complex, modified hydroformylation catalyst

The catalysts used in hydroformylation are typically organometallic complexes. Cobalt-based catalysts dominated hydroformylation until 1970s thereafter rhodium-based catalysts were commerciahzed. Synthesized aldehydes are typical intermediates for chemical industry [5]. A typical hydroformylation catalyst is modified with a ligand, e.g., tiiphenylphoshine. In recent years, a lot of effort has been put on the ligand chemistry in order to find new ligands for tailored processes [7-9]. In the present study, phosphine-based rhodium catalysts were used for hydroformylation of 1-butene. Despite intensive research on hydroformylation in the last 50 years, both the reaction mechanisms and kinetics are not in the most cases clear. Both associative and dissociative mechanisms have been proposed [5-6]. The discrepancies in mechanistic speculations have also led to a variety of rate equations for hydroformylation processes. 

Cobalt carbonyls are the oldest catalysts for hydroformylation and they have been used in industry for many years. They are used either as unmodified carbonyls, or modified with alkylphosphines (Shell process). For propene hydroformylation, they have been replaced by rhodium (Union Carbide, Mitsubishi, Ruhrchemie-Rhone Poulenc). For higher alkenes, cobalt is still the catalyst of choice. Internal alkenes can be used as the substrate as cobalt has a propensity for causing isomerization under a pressure of CO and high preference for the formation of linear aldehydes. Recently a new process was introduced for the hydroformylation of ethene oxide using a cobalt catalyst modified with a diphosphine. In the following we will focus on relevant complexes that have been identified and recently reported reactions of interest. 

It should be recognized that the stability of cobalt complexes under carbon monoxide can be enhanced by the addition of ligands, as is the case for phosphine-modified cobalt hydroformylation catalysts (57, 58). The stability will also probably depend on properties of the solvent employed. Nevertheless, the plot shown in Fig. 4 appears to be quite useful for assessing long-term cobalt stability under H2/CO in the absence of strongly coordinating solvents or ligands. 

The use of cobalt carbonyls, modified cobalt catalysts, and ligand-modified rhodium complexes, the three most important types of catalysts in hydroformylation,... 

The hydroformylation of conjugated dienes with unmodified cobalt catalysts is slow, since the insertion reaction of the diene generates an tj3-cobalt complex by hydride addition at a terminal carbon (equation 10).5 The stable -cobalt complex does not undergo facile CO insertion. Low yields of a mixture of n- and iso-valeraldehyde are obtained. The use of phosphine-modified rhodium catalysts gives a complex mixture of Cs monoaldehydes (58%) and C6 dialdehydes (42%). A mixture of mono- and di-aldehydes are also obtained from 1,3- and 1,4-cyclohexadienes with a modified rhodium catalyst (equation ll).29 The 3-cyclohexenecarbaldehyde, an intermediate in the hydrocarbonylation of both 1,3- and 1,4-cyclo-hexadiene, is converted in 73% yield, to the same mixture of dialdehydes (cis.trans = 35 65) as is produced from either diene. 

The hydroformylation of olefins is one of the largest and most prominent industrial catalytic processes, producing millions of tons of aldehydes annually [102]. Initially, cobalt-carbonyl species were used as catalyst, though rhodium complexes modified by special ligands, usually phosphines, are predominantly used nowadays. Over the last two decades, continued development of new phosphine and phosphite ligands has allowed significant advances in hydroformylation chemistry, especially with respect to catalyst selectivity and stability [103]. 

The cobalt-catalyzed reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen with an alkene, hydroformylation, is an extremely important industrial process, but it occurs under vigorous conditions (200-400 bar, 150-200 °C) and is not a particularly selective reaction. In the presence of ligand-modified rhodium catalysts, however, hydroformylation can be carried out under extremely mild conditions (1 bar, 25 C). The catalytic activity of such rhodium complexes is in fact lO -Ky times greater than that of cobalt complexes and side reactions, such as hydrogenation, are significantly reduced. The reactivity of alkenes in hydroformylation follows a similar pattern to that observed in other carbonylation reactions, i.e. linear terminal alkenes react more readily than linear internal alkenes, which in turn are more reactive than branched... 

Asymmetric hydroformylation of prochiral olefins has been investigated both for the elucidation of reaction mechanism and for development of a potentially useful method for asymmetric organic synthesis. Rhodium and platinum complexes have been extensively studied, and cobalt complexes to a lesser extent. A variety of enantiopure or enantiomerically enriched phosphines, diphosphines, phosphites, diphosphites, phosphine-phosphites, thiols, dithiols, P,A-ligands, and P,5-ligands have been developed as chiral modifiers of rhodium and platinum catalysts. - " ... 

The mechanisms of hydroformylation with rhodium and cobalt catalysts have been studied in detail and are very similar. We have already learnt that for cobalt the active catalyst precursor is [HCo(CO)4] in the case of the modified rhodium catalyst it is the complex [HRh(CO)(PPh3)3]. 

Improvements in rate, selectivity, and catalyst lifetime may be achieved when cobalt hydroformylation catalysts are modified by addition of a tertiary phosphine. When the phosphine added is dppe, the complex formed, [HCo(CO)2(dppe)], is a weak catalyst for the hydroformylation of 1-pentene, exhibiting poor selectivity to formation of the unbranched product (Equation 3.1a). ... 

It has been suggested that the acyl complex is [RCO-Co(CO)4], or [RCO Co(CO)3PBu3l for modified catalysts, but a site of unsaturation cis to the acyl ligand may be required (c.f.. Reference 60). A more probable formulation is therefore [RCO Co(CO)3], or [RCO Co(CO)2PBu3]. A binuclear, free-radical mechanism for the cobalt-catalyzed hydroformyla-tion of styrene or other conjugated substrates has also been proposed. These studies are far-reaching, especially because similar binuclear elimination steps have not received much consideration in studies of rhodium hydroformylation catalysts. ... 

The important discovery by Wilkinson [1] that rhodium afforded active and selective hydroformylation catalysts under mild conditions in the presence of triphenylphosphine as a hgand triggered a lot of research on hydroformylation, especially on hgand effects and mechanistic aspects. It is commonly accepted that the mechanism for the cobalt catalyzed hydroformylation as postulated by Heck and Breslow [2] can be apphed to phosphine modified rhodium carbonyl as well. Kinetic studies of the rhodium triphenylphosphine catalyst have shown that the addition of the aUcene to the hydride rhodium complex and/or the hydride migration step is probably rate-limiting [3] (Chapter 4). In most phosphine modified systems an inverse reaction rate dependency on phosphine ligand concentration or carbon monoxide pressure is observed [4]. 

Typical examples of different behavior in relation to the metal are trivalent phosphorus ligands. Thus, trials to modify cobalt complexes with PPhg proved rather problematic, due to the shift of the equilibrium to the left-hand side, especially under increased CO pressure (Scheme 1.7). As a consequence, the hydroformylation is catalyzed by the unmodified Co complex. Diphosphines of the type Ph2PZPPh2 (Z = (CH2)2, (CH2)4, CH=CH) cause a dramatic decrease in reactivity [19]. Also, phosphites do not form active hydroformylation catalysts with cobalt. It seems that only basic trialkyl phosphines are suitable for the generation of stable Co phosphine hydroformylation catalysts. 

In the hydroformylation of lower alkenes using a modified cobalt catalyst complex separation is achieved by distillation. The ligands are high-boiling so that they remain with the heavy ends when these are removed from the alcohol product. Distillation is not possible when higher alcohols or aldehydes are produced, because of decomposition of the catalyst ligands at the higher temperatures required. Rhodium complexes can usually also be removed by distillation, since these complexes are relatively stable. 

A similar pattern has always been discussed for rhodium, with hydri-dotetracarbonylrhodium H-Rh(CO)4 as a real catalyst species. The equilibria between Rh4(CO)i2 and the extremely unstable Rh2(CO)s were measured by high pressure IR and compared to the respective equilibria of cobalt [15,16]. But it was only recently that the missing link in rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation, the formation of the mononuclear hydridocomplex under high pressure conditions, has been proven. Even the equilibria with the precursor cluster Rh2(CO)8 could be determined quantitatively by special techniques [17]. Recent reviews on active cobalt and rhodium complexes, also ligand-modified, and on methods for the necessary spectroscopic in situ methods are given in [18,19]. 

Cobalt compounds are useful chemical catalysts for the synthesis of fuels (Fi-scher-Tropsch process), the synthesis of alcohols and aldehydes from olefins, hydrogen and carbon monoxide at elevated temperatures and pressures ( oxo process , hydroformylation ). They are also used in petroleum refining and the oxidation of organic compounds. In the oxo process, cobalt carbonyl, Co2(CO)g, is employed or generated in situ. For the selective production of n-butanol from propylene, hydrogen and CO, an organophosphine-modified cobalt carbonyl complex is used as the catalyst. Cobalt salts are proven oxidation catalysts examples include the production of terephthalic acid by the oxidation of p-xylene, and the manufacture of phenol by the oxidation of toluene. 

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