Hydroformylations homogeneous process

A new homogeneous process for hydroformylation of olefins using a water-soluble catalyst has been developed (40). The catalyst is based on a rhodium complex and utilizes a water-soluble phosphine such as tri(M-sulfophenyl)phosphine. The use of an aqueous phase simplifies the separation of the catalyst and products (see Oxo process). 

Relatively few hydroformylations using supported cobalt complexes have been reported. Moffat (78, 79) showed that poly-2-vinylpyridine reversibly reacted with both Co2(CO) and HCo(CO)4, the cobalt carbonyl being displaced by excess carbon monoxide. This enabled the polymer to pick up the cobalt carbonyl at the end of the reaction and, thus, allowed it to be separated from the products by filtration. The polymer acted as a catalyst reservoir by rapidly releasing the cobalt carbonyl into solution in the presence of further carbon monoxide, so that the actual catalysis was a homogeneous process. More recently, cobalt carbonyl has been irreversibly bound to a polystyrene resin... 

Hydroformylation, also known as the oxo process, is the transition metal catalyzed conversion of olefins into aldehydes by the addition of synthesis gas (H2/CO) and is the second largest homogeneous process in the world in which more than 12 billion pounds of aldehydes are produced each year.222 Aldehydes are important intermediates in a variety of processes such as the production of alcohols, lubricants, detergents, and plasticizers. Several transition metals can catalyze the hydroformylation of olefins, but rhodium and cobalt have been used extensively. 

Industrial hydroformylation is currently performed in two basic variants the homogeneous processes, where the catalyst and substrate are in the same liquid phase (Shell, UCC, BASF, etc.), and the two-phase process with a water-soluble catalyst (RCH/RP). These processes will be discussed in detail in Section 2.1.1.4. Gas-phase hydroformylation with heterogeneous catalysts plays no role today. The immobilization of homogeneous catalysts will be discussed in Section 3.1.1. Special applications such as SLPC (supported /iquid-phase catalysts) [43] and SAPC (supported aqueous-/7hase catalysts) [44] are not considered further here. Heterogeneous oxo catalysts are not within the scope of this book they are discussed further elsewhere [267]. 

Whatever metal is used, homogeneous processes suffer from high cost resulting from the consumption of the catalyst, whether recycled or not. This is why two-phase catalytic processes have been developed such as hydroformylation catalyzed by rhodium complexes, which are dissolved in water thanks to hydrophilic phosphines (cf. Section 3.1.1.1) [17]. Due to the sensitivity of most dimerization catalysts to proton-active or coordinating solvents, the use of non-aqueous ionic liquids (NAILs) as catalyst solvents has been proposed. These media are typically mixtures of quaternary ammonium or phosphonium salts, such as 1,3-dialkylimi-dazolium chloride, with aluminum trichloride (cf. Section 3.1.1.2.2). They prove to be superb solvents for cationic active species such as the cationic nickel complexes which are the active species of olefin dimerization [18, 19]. The dimers. 

Among all of the homogeneous processes catalyzed by transition metals, hydro-formylation stands out in three respects. It is the oldest process still in use today, it is responsible for producing the largest amount of material resulting from a homogeneous transition metal-catalyzed reaction,9 and it can be considered a green process because it proceeds with almost 100% atom economy. The hydroformylation reaction was outlined already in equation 9.5. 

Keywords Hydroformylation, Oxo process. Aqueous biphasic homogeneous catalysis. 

The most important and oldest application of aqueous biphasic, homogeneous catalysis is hydroformylation (oxo process, Roelen reaction). This process is used to produce n-butyraldehyde, the desired main product of the reaction of propylene, which is converted by aldolization into 2-ethyUiexenal and this is finally hydrogenated to give 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH), the most economically important plasticizer alcohol (Scheme 1) ... 

Hydroformylation or oxosynthesis is a well-known homogeneous, transition metal catalyzed reaction which has known considerable and continuous development since its discovery by Otto Roelen in the laboratories of Ruhrchemie AG in 1938 [1], This reaction, which can be considered as the addition of a formyl group and hydrogen to a double bond, has been successfully applied in the industrial context by using two basic processes the homogeneous process where the rhodium or cobalt catalyst and the substrate are in the same phase (Shell, UCC, BASF, RCH processes) [2] and the aqueous/organic biphasic process where the water-soluble rhodium catalyst and the organic compounds are in two different phases (Ruhr-chemie/Rhone-Poulenc process) [3]. 

Hydroformylation of olefins. Hydroformylation (oxo process) is the oldest homogeneous catalysis of industrial importance. Whereas the combination of an olefin with H2 gives hydrogenation products, a mixture of H2 and CO, called synthesis gas, instead gives various products including hydrocarbons, methanol, ethylene... 

The hydroformylation of methyl-3-pentenoate by [Rh(acac)(GO)2] associated with PPhs and 2,2 -bis(((2,2 -bis(4-methoxy-6-/i r/-butyl)phenoxy)phosphino)-oxy)-l,l -binaphthyl in [G4GiIm]PF6 is a homogenous process, and catalyst recycling was achieved by reactive distillation where the IL acts as stabilizer. 

The discovery of hydroformylation by Otto Roelen was made while investigating the influence of alkenes on the Fischer-Tropsch reaction using a heterogeneous cobalt oxide catalyst supported on silica. Later it was concluded that hydroformylation is actually a homogeneous process catalyzed by ECo(CO) formed in situ. Many metals catalyze hydroformylation, but the most active catalysts contain cobalt, rhodium, palladium, and platinum as the central metal. The discussion in this chapter centers on the most utilized catalysts ECo(CO), ECo(CO)3PR3, ERh(CO)3(PR3)j, and HRhfCOljfdiphosphine). 

Hydroformylation. Hydroformylation (homogeneous) and Hydroformyla-tion (industrial processes/engineering) constitute separate entries in this Encyclopedia, so there is no need for lengthy treatment of the general questions of this most important catalytic reaction in this section. Several aspects of the field are treated in recent reviews (1,3,5,28,145). Attention is paid only to those features that have direct relevance to the aqueous-organic biphasic nature of the process. With very few exceptions, the catalysts contain rhodium although attempts to use cobalt and platinum complexes have also been described in the literature for specific purposes. 

Much of the recent interest in insertion reactions undeniably stems from the emphasis placed on development of homogeneous catalysis as a rational discipline. One or more insertion is involved in such catalytic processes as the hydroformylation (31) or the polymerization of olefins 26, 75) and isocyanides 244). In addition, many insertion reactions have been successfully employed in organic and organometallic synthesis. The research in this general area has helped systematize a large body of previously unrelated facts and opened new areas of chemistry for investigation. Heck 114) and Lappert and Prokai 161) provide a comprehensive compilation and a systematic discussion of a wide variety of insertion reactions in two relatively recent (1965 and 1967) reviews. 

A method has been developed for the continuous removal and reuse of a homogeneous rhodium hydroformylation catalyst. This is done using solvent mixtures that become miscible at reaction temperature and phase separate at lower temperatures. Such behavior is referred to as thermomorphic, and it can be used separate the expensive rhodium catalysts from the aldehydes before they are distilled. In this process, the reaction mixture phase separates into an organic phase that contains the aldehyde product and an aqueous phase that contains the rhodium catalyst. The organic phase is separated and sent to purification, and the aqueous rhodium catalyst phase is simply recycled. 

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