Hydroformylation, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis cobalt catalysts

Q Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis and Hydroformylation on Cobalt Catalysts The Thermodynamic Control... 

During a study of the origin of oxygenates in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in the presence of a cobalt catalyst, Roelen observed the formation of propanal and 3-penta-none when ethylene was added to the feed.1 The process now termed hydroformylation or oxo reaction is the metal-catalyzed transformation of alkenes with carbon monoxide and hydrogen to form aldehydes ... 

Transition metal carbonyls and their derivatives are remarkably effective and varied in their ability to catalyze reactions between unsaturated molecules (e.g., CO and olefinic compounds) or between certain saturated and unsaturated molecules (e.g., olefins and H2 or H20). The carbonyl derivatives of cobalt are particularly active catalysts for such reactions and have been put to use in the industrial synthesis of higher aliphatic alcohols. In fact, much of the growth in knowledge concerning catalysis by metal carbonyls has been stimulated by the industrial importance of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and by the economically less important, but chemically more tractable, hydroformylation reaction. 

The hydroformylation or oxo reaction, or oxo synthesis discovered by Otto Roelen and patented in 1938 (1) is the addition of carbon monoxide and dihydrogen to an olefin double bond in the presence of a transition metal complex as the catalyst. The discovery of the reaction regarding the cobalt catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch reactions. Roelen s observation that ethylene, H2, and CO were converted into propanal, and at higher pressures, diethyl ketone, marked the beginning of hydroformylation catalysis (2). The term of hydroformylation relates to the formal addition of hydrogen and a formyl group to the olefin substrate. 

---