Hydroformylation encapsulation effects

Rhodium complexes of these mono- and bidentate ligands were tested in the hydroformylation of 1-octene. Depending on the ligand, a small effect of the dendritic encapsulation was observed. 

Initial studies showed that the encapsulated palladium catalyst based on the assembly outperformed its non-encapsulated analogue by far in the Heck coupling of iodobenzene with styrene [7]. This was attributed to the fact that the active species consist of a monophosphine-palladium complex. The product distribution was not changed by encapsulation of the catalyst. A similar rate enhancement was observed in the rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-octene (Scheme 8.1). At room temperature, the catalyst was 10 times more active. For this reaction a completely different product distribution was observed. The encapsulated rhodium catalyst formed preferentially the branched aldehyde (L/B ratio 0.6), whereas usually the linear aldehyde is formed as the main product (L/B > 2 in control experiments). These effects are partly attributed to geometry around the metal complex monophosphine coordinated rhodium complexes are the active species, which was also confirmed by high-pressure IR and NMR techniques. 

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