Cobalt mechanism considerations

HCo(N2)(PPh3)3 has been used to oligomerize propylene [577]. 2-Methyl-l-pentene is the main product. The addition of 3 moles of tri-n-butyl-phosphine/ mol of cobalt complex considerably reduced the oligomerization rate. A mechanism as shown in the following reactions is proposed (5771 ... 

As we have seen, an area of major importance and of considerable interest is that of substitution reactions of metal complexes in aqueous, nonaqueous and organized assemblies (particularly micellar systems). The accumulation of a great deal of data on substitution in nickel(II) and cobalt(II) in solution (9) has failed to shake the dissociative mechanism for substitution and for these the statement "The mechanisms of formation reactions of solvated metal cations have also been settled, the majority taking place by the Eigen-Wilkins interchange mechanism or by understandable variants of it" (10) seems appropriate. Required, however, are more data for substitution in the other... 

Several reports have appeared on the effect of additives on the Pauson-Khand reaction employing an alkyne-Co2(CO)6 complex. For example, addition of phosphine oxide improves the yields of cyclopentenones 119], while addition of dimethyl sulfoxide accelerates the reaction considerably [20]. Furthermore, it has been reported that the Pauson-Khand reaction proceeds even at room temperature when a tertiary amine M-oxide, such as trimethylamine M-oxide or N-methylmorpholine M-oxide, is added to the alkyne-Co2(CO)6 complex in the presence of alkenes [21]. These results suggest that in the Pauson-Khand reaction generation of coordinatively unsaturated cobalt species by the attack of oxides on the carbonyl ligand of the alkyne-Co2(CO)6 complex [22] is the key step. With this knowledge in mind, we examined further the effect of various other additives on the reaction to obtain information on the mechanism of this rearrangement. 

Despite very extensive studies on this reaction, there is still considerable uncertainty about its mechanism. The reaction occurs at about the same rate in a wide variety of organic solvents, including benzene, heptane, and alcohol, suggesting that polar intermediates are not involved (Wender et al., 41). Reaction of the olefin with preformed cobalt hydrocarbonyl also gives the aldehyde product (Wender et al., 4 ). This, together with the observation that cobalt hydrocarbonyl is formed under hydroformylation conditions in the absence of olefin, but cannot be detected in the presence... 

An alternative interpretation of some features of the hydroformylation reaction (including the inverse CO dependence), in terms of heterogeneous catalysis by an (unidentified) insoluble cobalt component, has recently been advanced by Aldridge, Fasce and Jonassen (49a). The universal validity of this seems doubtful in the light of the considerable evidence favoring a homogeneous mechanism. 

While there have been a considerable number of structural models for these multinuclear zinc enzymes (49), there have only been a few functional models until now. Czamik et al. have reported phosphate hydrolysis with bis(Coni-cyclen) complexes 39 (50) and 40 (51). The flexible binuclear cobalt(III) complex 39 (1 mM) hydrolyzed bis(4-nitro-phenyl)phosphate (BNP-) (0.05 mM) at pH 7 and 25°C with a rate 3.2 times faster than the parent Coni-cyclen (2 mM). The more rigid complex 40 was designed to accommodate inorganic phosphate in the in-temuclear pocket and to prevent formation of an intramolecular ju.-oxo dinuclear complex. The dinuclear cobalt(III) complex 40 (1 mM) indeed hydrolyzed 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (NP2-) (0.025 mM) 10 times faster than Coni-cyclen (2 mM) at pH 7 and 25°C (see Scheme 10). The final product was postulated to be 41 on the basis of 31P NMR analysis. In 40, one cobalt(III) ion probably provides a nucleophilic water molecule, while the second cobalt(III) binds the phosphoryl group in the form of a four-membered ring (see 42). The reaction of the phosphomonoester NP2- can therefore profit from the special placement of the two metal ions. As expected from the weaker interaction of BNP- with cobalt(in), 40 did not show enhanced reactivity toward BNP-. However, in the absence of more quantitative data, a detailed reaction mechanism cannot be drawn. 

Alcohols and jlkenes are also primary products and are not shown in the simplified Eq. 15.182. The overall reaction is complicated and, as a result, its mechanism has been the subject of considerable debate.188 The reaction may be viewed as the reductive polymerization of carbon monoxide, with molecular hydrogen as the reducing agent. A variety of heterogeneous catalysts, such as metallic iron and cobalt on alumina, have been used. It is believed that carbon monoxide dissociates on the catalytic surface to give carbides and that these are in turn hydrogenated to give surface carbenes 1 " n ... 

Diverse lines of evidence support the conclusion that a chemical mechanism is operative in certain reactions of the type under consideration. In certain systems this evidence is quite direct.160 Thus, when Cr2+ reacts with pentaammine-0-(pyrazinecarbonylato)cobalt(III), the first very rapid reaction phase (k > 106 M-1 s-1) leads to a green intermediate which in a slower first-order process (k = 4.5 x 102 s-1) produces Co2+(aq) and a Cr111 chelate of the new ligand. ESR measurements on the reaction mixture in a rapid flow apparatus show that the green intermediate is a radical cation.161... 

The object of this review is threefold (1) to discuss the various characterization techniques which have been applied to this catalyst system, (2) to relate what each technique reveals about the nature of the catalyst, and (3) to present an overall picture of the state of the catalyst as it now appears. We will not discuss the vast literature on catalyst activity testing, kinetics, or mechanisms here. These are subjects for review themselves. However, we will mention some selective catalyst activity tests which were designed to give some fundamental insight into the catalyst state or active sites present. Also, we will not discuss in detail the considerable work reported on pure compounds (unsupported) of molybdenum, cobalt, and/or aluminum but we will have occasion to compare some of their properties to our catalyst systems to assess to what degree they may be present in the catalyst. 

Industrially the straight chain isomer is generally the most desired product and hence the normal/iso product ratio obtained for a given catalyst is of importance. Further, the hydrogenation activities of catalysts vary considerably such that alcohols can in some cases be obtained in a single step (222). The first catalysts developed for this reaction were based on cobalt carbonyl and later cobalt carbonyl phosphine complexes. However, more recently attention has been focused on the intrinsically much more active rhodium catalysts (222, 223). A simplified mechanism for (223) cobalt- and rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation has been proposed which involves the following steps ... 

The ore is crushed and ground in.ball mills to pass through a 30-mesh sieve. It is mixed with suitable fluxes (limestone and quartz) and smelted in small blast-furnaces having a capacity of 25 to 30 tons per twenty-four hours. The products obtained are (i) flue dust, which is returned to the furnaces, and crude arsenious oxide, which is resublimed and sold (ii) a silicate slag, which is thrown away unless it contains more than 10 ounces of silver per ton (iii) crude silver bullion, which is mechanically detached and cupelled to a fineness of 994 before it is sold to silver refiners and (iv) a speiss of cobalt, nickel, iron, and copper arsenides, containing considerable amounts of silver. The crude silver bullion contains about three-fourths of the silver present in the ore. 

Two major mechanisms have to be taken into consideration for the alkylation of Co -corrins. The classical mechanism of a bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction at carbon (the Co -corrin acts as a nucleophile) leads to /3-aUcylated Co -corrins with high diastereoselectivity. Secondly, an electron transfer-induced radical process (where the Co -corrin acts as a one-electron reducing agent) may also lead to cobalt alkylation. The observed formation of incomplete a-aUcylated Co -corrins under kinetically controlled conditions has been proposed to occur via this path. The high nucleophilic reactivity of Co -corrins and their diastereoselective nucleophilic reaction on the ( upper ) /3-face are not increased by the nucleotide function on the ( lower ) a-face rather they appear to be an inherent reactivity of the corrin-bound tetracoordinate Co -center. Among the organometallic B12 derivatives prepared to date, neopentylcobalamin, benzylcobalamin, and... 

FeS also catalyzes the shift reaction, but its activity is only half that of Fe,04 [592]-[594], In principle the catalyst can tolerate up to 500 or 1000 ppm H2S, but with a considerable loss of mechanical strength, which is additionally affected by other contaminants in the gas, such as soot and traces of formic acid. For this reason the so-called dirty shift catalyst is used in this case, which was originally introduced by BASF [639]. This cobalt-molybdenum-alumina catalyst [603], [630], [640]-[644] is present under reaction conditions in sulfidized form and requires for its performance a sulfur content in the gas in excess of 1 g S/m3. Reaction temperatures are between 230 and 500 °C. COS is not hydrolyzed on dirty shift catalysts, but may be removed in the subsequent sour-gas removal stage using the Rectisol process. Separate hydrolysis on alumina based catalysts is possible at temperatures below 200 °C [603],... 

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