Hydroformylation catalyst modifiers

Conventional triorganophosphite ligands, such as triphenylphosphite, form highly active hydroformylation catalysts (95—99) however, they suffer from poor durabiUty because of decomposition. Diorganophosphite-modified rhodium catalysts (94,100,101), have overcome this stabiUty deficiency and provide a low pressure, rhodium catalyzed process for the hydroformylation of low reactivity olefins, thus making lower cost amyl alcohols from butenes readily accessible. The new diorganophosphite-modified rhodium catalysts increase hydroformylation rates by more than 100 times and provide selectivities not available with standard phosphine catalysts. For example, hydroformylation of 2-butene with l,l -biphenyl-2,2 -diyl... 

The catalysts used in hydroformylation are typically organometallic complexes. Cobalt-based catalysts dominated hydroformylation until 1970s thereafter rhodium-based catalysts were commerciahzed. Synthesized aldehydes are typical intermediates for chemical industry [5]. A typical hydroformylation catalyst is modified with a ligand, e.g., tiiphenylphoshine. In recent years, a lot of effort has been put on the ligand chemistry in order to find new ligands for tailored processes [7-9]. In the present study, phosphine-based rhodium catalysts were used for hydroformylation of 1-butene. Despite intensive research on hydroformylation in the last 50 years, both the reaction mechanisms and kinetics are not in the most cases clear. Both associative and dissociative mechanisms have been proposed [5-6]. The discrepancies in mechanistic speculations have also led to a variety of rate equations for hydroformylation processes. 

Cobalt carbonyls are the oldest catalysts for hydroformylation and they have been used in industry for many years. They are used either as unmodified carbonyls, or modified with alkylphosphines (Shell process). For propene hydroformylation, they have been replaced by rhodium (Union Carbide, Mitsubishi, Ruhrchemie-Rhone Poulenc). For higher alkenes, cobalt is still the catalyst of choice. Internal alkenes can be used as the substrate as cobalt has a propensity for causing isomerization under a pressure of CO and high preference for the formation of linear aldehydes. Recently a new process was introduced for the hydroformylation of ethene oxide using a cobalt catalyst modified with a diphosphine. In the following we will focus on relevant complexes that have been identified and recently reported reactions of interest. 

A method to reduce degradation/deactivation of a phosphite modified rhodium hydroformylation catalyst in the separation system involves feeding a diene such as butadiene to the vaporizer to convert the phosphite-modified rhodium catalyst to a more stable form. [34] In the reactor, the diene is hydrogenated and catalyst activity is restored. 

This Chapter will concentrate on the hydroformylation of propene by means of rhodium catalysts, modified by water-soluble ligands such as TPPTS (triphenylphosphine m-trisulfonate). 

Dicyclopentadiene has produced some interesting results. With rhodium catalyst at 115°C in tetrahydrofuran (THF), the dialdehyde was produced in good yield at 180°C that reaction proceeds further to form the diol in 67% yield (67). With a rhodium catalyst modified by excess triphenyl phosphite, the unsaturated monoaldehyde was obtained in a rapid reaction under very mild conditions (68, 69). The nonstrained 5-membered ring olefin required more strenuous conditions for hydroformylation. Either compound could be obtained in good yield by proper choice of conditions. 

A method for observing intermediates directly in the reaction cycle is in situ IR spectroscopy under reaction conditions. As early as 1975, Penninger published a contribution concerning in situ IR spectroscopic studies of cobalt carbonyl modified by tri-u-butylphosphine as a hydroformylation catalyst [58] at relatively low catalyst concentrations of 2 mmoll-1. The observed carbonyl... 

It should be recognized that the stability of cobalt complexes under carbon monoxide can be enhanced by the addition of ligands, as is the case for phosphine-modified cobalt hydroformylation catalysts (57, 58). The stability will also probably depend on properties of the solvent employed. Nevertheless, the plot shown in Fig. 4 appears to be quite useful for assessing long-term cobalt stability under H2/CO in the absence of strongly coordinating solvents or ligands. 

A few years ago, a new class of ligands namely the sulfonated phosphites (for examples see Table 7, 132, 133) was described.283 287 They show remarkable stabilities in water compared to conventional phosphites such as P(OPh)3 and rhodium catalysts modified with 132 exhibited much higher catalytic activities in the hydroformylation of 1-tetradecene than conventional Rh/P(OPh)3 or Ph/PPh3 catalysts even at lower reaction temperatures.285,286 Sulfonated phosphite ligands may play a role in the emerging field of biphasic catalysis in ionic liquids15 22 or in combination with membrane separation of the metal complexes of these bulky ligands. 

Hydroformylation reactions are important from the industrial point of view and the two commonly used hydroformylation catalysts are either Rh or Co based. We thought it would be interesting to anchor a SiOs unit on a cobalt cluster via hydrosilylation. This would be a close model to a silica-supported cobalt cluster. Secondly, since the reactions of silanetriols have been demonstrated to afford three-dimensional metallasiloxanes, we anticipated that this silanetriol would react with substrates such as trialkylaluminums, affording cobalt carbonyl cluster anchored aluminosiloxanes. Such compounds would resemble a modified zeolite having on its surface catalytically active cobalt carbonyl moieties and might inspire the preparation of actual zeolite systems with these modifications. 

Although the oxo synthesis has been applied industrially almost 50 years, its reaction mechanism has not been clarified in every detail. Some aspects of the proposed reaction pathway are still under investigation. Among industrial hydroformylation catalysts, major differences are observed between modified and unmodified systems and therefore they will be discussed separately. 

The fact that water-soluble sulfonated phosphines may combine the properties of a ligand and a surfactant in the same molecule was first mentioned in 1978 by Wilkinson etal. [11] in their study of the hydroformylation of 1-hexene using rhodium and ruthenium catalysts modified with TPPMS (triphenylphosphine mono-... 

Table 12.2 Asymmetric hydroformylation of styrene with platinum and rhodium catalysts modified by (2, 4R)-2,4-bis[(4,R,6R)-4,6-dimethyl-l,3,2-dioxaphosphorinane-2-yloxy]-pentane.

---