Homogeneous acid-catalyzed process

The homogeneous acid-catalyzed transesterification process does not enjoy the same popularity in commercial application as its counterpart, the base-catalyzed process, one of the main reasons being that it is about 4000 times slower, due to the different mechanism [10]. Thus, in the reaction sequence triglyceride is converted stepwise to diglyceride, monoglyceride and finally glycerol with formation of one molecule of methyl ester at each step (Scheme 10.1). 

The homogeneous palladium-catalyzed process for acetoxylation was never commercialized because of low selectivity and the difficulty in separating the catalyst from the reaction mixture. Heterogeneous palladium catalysts applied in the gas phase, in turn, quickly lose activity caused by buildup of polybutadiene. The Mitsubishi process uses a Pd-Te-on-active-carbon catalyst in the liquid phase. Tellurium apparently prevents palladium elution to acetic acid. 

We encounter homogeneous catalysts in both step-growth and chain-growth polymerization processes. We saw several examples of these types of reactions in Chapter 2. For example, the acid catalyzed polymerization of polyesters occurs via a homogeneous process as do some metallocene catalyzed polymerization of polyolefins. 

Another example is butene dimerization catalyzed by nickel complexes in acidic chloroaluminates 14). This reaction has been performed on a continuous basis on the pilot scale by IFF (Difasol process). Relative to the industrial process involving homogeneous catalysis (Dimersol process), the overall yield in dimers is increased. Similarly, selective hydrogenation of diene can be performed in ionic liquids, because the solubility of dienes is higher than that of monoene, which is higher than that of paraffins. In the case of the Difasol process, a reduction of the volume of the reaction section by a factor of up to 40 can be achieved. This new Difasol technology enables lower dimer (e.g., octenes) production costs 14). 

Like the AVADA and the AlkyClean processes, these two processes also replace the liquid acid/base catalysts with solid acids and bases [192]. Although the reaction mechanism for the heterogeneous acid-catalyzed esterification is similar to the homogeneously catalyzed one [207,208], there is an important difference concerning the relationship between the surface hydrophobicity and the catalyst s activity. This is especially true for fatty acids, which are very lipophilic compounds. One can envisage three cases First, if there are isolated Bronsted acid sites surrounded by a... 

In industry many selective oxidations are carried out in a homogeneously catalyzed process. Heterogeneous catalysts are also applied in a number of processes, e.g. total combustion for emission control, oxidative coupling of methane, the synthesis of maleic acid from butanes, the epoxidation of ethylene. Here we focus upon heterogeneous catalysis and of the many examples we have selected one. We will illustrate the characteristics of catalytic oxidation on the basis of the epoxidation of ethylene. It has been chosen because it illustrates well the underlying chemistry in many selective oxidation processes. 

The production of carboxylic acids via carbonylation catalysis is the second most important industrial homogeneous group of processes. Reppe developed most of the basic carbonylation chemistry in the 1930s and 1940s. The first commercial carbonylation process was the stoichiometric Ni(CO)4-based hydroxycarbonylation of acetylene to give acrylic acid (see Section 3.5 for details). This discovery has since evolved into a trae Ni-catalyzed process, used mainly by BASF. The introduction of rhodium catalysts in the 1970s revolutionized carboxylic acid production, particularly for acetic acid, much in the same way that Rh/PPhs catalysts changed the importance of hydroformylation catalysis. 

Recently, a more stable Rh catalyst for methanol carbonylation based on the crosslinked polyvinylpyridine system has been disclosed in which the degree of crosslinking of the resin support is as high as 60 % [115c-e]. This catalyst improvement is the basis for the potential development of a commercial methanol carbonylation acetic acid process named Acetica . This process is being offered for license by Chiyoda and UOR Even with this announcement, there are still considerable doubts whether heterogenized carbonylation catalyst systems can compete with the low-water homogeneous Rh- and Ir-catalyzed processes (cf. Sections 2.1.1 and 3.1.1.3). 

A third homogeneously catalyzed process, on the basis of formaldehyde condensation with propanal to give methacrolein and subsequent oxidation to methacrylic acid, was commercialized in 1990 by BASF. Application of this process is limited by the availability of cheap propanal, produced by large-scale ethylene hydroformylation (cf. Section 2.1.1). 

This homogeneously catalyzed process technology is not applicable for the production of unsaturated acids, such as acrylic or methacrylic acid. These acids are more typically produced via gas-phase oxidations utilizing heterogeneous catalyst systems such as Mo-V-Al-Cu oxides at much higher temperatures, 250-300 °C [3]. Very few homogeneous catalysts, such as Tl(OAc)3, have been described for the oxidation of olefmic aldehydes with oxygen [4]. 

The term reactive distillation (RD) refers to both catalyzed and uncatalyzed reaction systems. Catalytic distillation systems may use a homogenous or heterogenous catalyst to accelerate the reaction. Reactive distillation is a well-known example of reactive separation process, and is used commercially. The first patent and early journal articles deal mainly with homogenously catalyzed reactions such as esterifications, transesterifications, and hydrolysis.f Heterogenous catalysis with RD is a more recent development. The key advantages for a properly designed RD colunm are complete conversion of reactants and attainment of high selectivity. An example of the benefits of RD is the acid catalyzed production of methyl acetate by... 

An efficient single-step catalytic process was recently developed for the conversion of glucan-type polysaccharides, especially starch, to sorbitol [15]. This process is characterized by the simultaneous hydrolysis of the polysaccharide and hydrogenation of the liberated monosaccharide. The catalyst used is Ru-loaded H-USY zeolite (3 % wlw Ru) in which the zeolitic material fulfils the role of metal carrier (Ru) and solid-acid catalyst. The zeolite provides the Brpnsted acidity required for the hydrolysis reaction either because of its outer surface or by introducing some homogeneous acidity, and the Ru catalyzes the hydrogenation of D-glucose to sorbitol (Scheme 2). 

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