Desulfurization rhodium complexes

Removal of sulfur from these complexes remains challenging. Catalysts such as [M(COD)(PPh3)2]+ (M = Rh, Ir) only hydrogenate the C=C bond of benzothio-phene, whereas the hydrogenation with rhodium triphos complexes gives 2-ethyl-thiophenol.148 The addition of Co4(CO)i2 to (21-XXVIII, ML, = Cp Ir), however, leads to partial desulfurization, presumably with formation of cobalt sulfide.149... 

While metal complexes capable of desulfurizing or hydrodesulfurizing thiophenes are relatively numerous, homogeneous catalysts are very rare, being limited to rhodium and iridium TRIPHOS precursors that are unique in tolerating the harsh experimental conditions required for the second C-S bond cleavage of thiophenes [2 b]. 

More recent work on the hydrogenation of thiophenic molecules catalyzed by water-soluble metal complexes is pursuing the use of polyphosphine ligands (cf. Section 3.2.2). These studies follow the success obtained with the tridentate phosphine MeC (CH2PPh2)3 (TRIPHOS), which forms rhodium and iridium catalysts for the hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, and desulfurization of various thiophenic... 

HDS catalysts generally consist of (heterogeneous) Mo or W sulfides on alumina supports. However, Bianchini et al. described a two-step procedure for HDS of thiophenes by the hydrogenolysis of thiols, followed by the desulfurization of the thiols by applying their zwitterionic rhodium(I) complex, [Rh(sulphos((cod)] (see previous section) [17]. This complex is soluble in polar solvents, such as methanol and methanol-water mixtures, but not in hydrocarbons. Benzo[b]thiophene was chosen as substrate since it is one of the most difficult thiophene derivatives to degrade. Under the mild reaction conditions of the two-step process, the benzene rings of the (di)benzothiophenes were not affected. In the absence of a base, the double bond of benzo[b]thiophene was hydrogenated, while in the presence of a base (NaOH) 2-ethylthiophenolate was the major product (Scheme 1). 

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