Cycloheptene Wacker process

The industrial Wacker process is carried out in aqueous hydrochloric acid using PdClj/CuCh as the catalyst under oxygen pressure. The oxidation of higher terminal alkenes under the same conditions is slow and sometimes accompanied by undesired by-products formed by the chlorination of carbonyl com-poimds by CuCh, and isomerization of double bonds. Earlier examples of oxidation of various alkenes, mainly in aqueous solutions, have been tabulated.The pseudo-first-order rate constants for oxidation of various alkenes, relative to the value for cycloheptene, with PdCb in the presence of benzoquinone in aqueous solution have been rqwrted. An accelerating effect of surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate on the stoichiometric oxidation of higher alkenes in an aqueous solution has been reported. 

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