Cobalt hydrogenation, selective

A membrane separation device was prepared by Wilhite et al. by micro-electromechanical techniques [526]. The palladium/silver membrane deposited onto a silicon oxide support was only 20-nm thick, which was possibly the lowest membrane thickness ever reported for hydrogen separative purposes. A lanfhanum/nickel/cobalt oxide catalyst (LaNi0.95Co0.05O3) catalyst for partial oxidation of methanol was deposited onto the membrane. At a O/C ratio of 0.86 and 475 °C reaction temperature, up to 64% methanol conversion and more than 90% hydrogen selectivity could be achieved. These workers claimed a deviation from Sievert s law (see Section 5.2.4) for their membrane. N amely, the hydrogen flux did not depend by a power of 0.5 of the retenate and permeate pressure but rather by a power of 0.97, which they attributed to the absence of internal solid-state diffusion limitations in their ultra-thin membrane. 

Cobaltous chloride/dimethylglyoxime Reduction with bis(dimethylglyoximato)cobalt(II) Selective hydrogenation of activated carbon-carbon double bonds... 

The reaction is catalyzed by cobalt hydrogen is necessary whatever the starting material, which can be aldehydes, olefins or benzyl hahdes. The yields are generally good (50% to 98%) and the selectivities are excellent. 

Often the aldehyde is hydrogenated to the corresponding alcohol. In general, addition of carbon monoxide to a substrate is referred to as carbonylation, but when the substrate is an olefin it is also known as hydroformylation. The eady work on the 0x0 synthesis was done with cobalt hydrocarbonyl complexes, but in 1976 a low pressure rhodium-cataly2ed process was commerciali2ed that gave greater selectivity to linear aldehydes and fewer coproducts. 

For more selective hydrogenations, supported 5—10 wt % palladium on activated carbon is preferred for reductions in which ring hydrogenation is not wanted. Mild conditions, a neutral solvent, and a stoichiometric amount of hydrogen are used to avoid ring hydrogenation. There are also appHcations for 35—40 wt % cobalt on kieselguhr, copper chromite (nonpromoted or promoted with barium), 5—10 wt % platinum on activated carbon, platinum (IV) oxide (Adams catalyst), and rhenium heptasulfide. Alcohol yields can sometimes be increased by the use of nonpolar (nonacidic) solvents and small amounts of bases, such as tertiary amines, which act as catalyst inhibitors. 

The breadth of reactions catalyzed by cobalt compounds is large. Some types of reactions are hydrotreating petroleum (qv), hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, hydrodenitrification, hydrodesulfurization, selective oxidations, ammonoxidations, complete oxidations, hydroformylations, polymerizations, selective decompositions, ammonia (qv) synthesis, and fluorocarbon synthesis (see Fluorine compounds, organic). 

A Belgian patent (178) claims improved ethanol selectivity of over 62%, starting with methanol and synthesis gas and using a cobalt catalyst with a hahde promoter and a tertiary phosphine. At 195°C, and initial carbon monoxide pressure of 7.1 MPa (70 atm) and hydrogen pressure of 7.1 MPa, methanol conversions of 30% were indicated, but the selectivity for acetic acid and methyl acetate, usehil by-products from this reaction, was only 7%. Ruthenium and osmium catalysts (179,180) have also been employed for this reaction. The addition of a bicycHc trialkyl phosphine is claimed to increase methanol conversion from 24% to 89% (181). 

Reduction of unsaturated aldehydes seems more influenced by the catalyst than is that of unsaturated ketones, probably because of the less hindered nature of the aldehydic function. A variety of special catalysts, such as unsupported (96), or supported (SJ) platinum-iron-zinc, plalinum-nickel-iron (47), platinum-cobalt (90), nickel-cobalt-iron (42-44), osmium (<55), rhenium heptoxide (74), or iridium-on-carbon (49), have been developed for selective hydrogenation of the carbonyl group in unsaturated aldehydes. None of these catalysts appears to reduce an a,/3-unsaturated ketonic carbonyl selectively. 

Under relatively mild conditions the Ru/C catalyst poisoned with Sn (lines 1 and 2), the Ir/C catalyst (lines 14 and 15), and the Raney-cobalt catalyst modified with CoCl2 (line 19) seem likely systems to try when initiating a search for an effective method for selectively hydrogenating the C=0 bond in an a, 3-unsaturated aldehyde. 

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