Metal carbonyls reaction with phosphines

A typical case is that of the reactions of metal-carbonyl complexes with phosphines studied inter alia by Basolo. 

Basolo and co-workers recently studied CO substitution in [V(CO)6], which is the only stable homoleptic metal carbonyl radical. With phosphine and phosphite nucleophiles (L) reaction (1) follows a strictly second-order... 

The reaction of metal carbonyl dimers with silicon hydrides also probably involves an initial oxidative addition step. Chiral silyl-cobalt and silyl-manganese carbonyl complexes have been obtained through the reaction of optically active organosilicon hydrides with metal carbonyls65 68 (equation 15 and 16). Phosphine-substituted cobalt complexes were similarly obtained by reaction of a chiral hydrosilane with Co2(CO)6L2 [L = PPh3, P(OPh)3, P(c-C6Hn)3]69. 

Studies reported in 1983 on the mechanism of CO substitution in metal carbonyl radicals have been continued. CO substitution by phosphines in V(C0)s is a second-order process with the rate of reaction dependent upon the basicity and size of the ligand. The kinetics and mechanism of 0- and N-Lewis base induced disproportionation of the same metal carbonyl and its phosphine substituted derivatives have also been examined, as have the mechanisms of redox reactions of V(C0)s with metal carbonylates. At low... 

Propane, 1-propanol, and heavy ends (the last are made by aldol condensation) are minor by-products of the hydroformylation step. A number of transition-metal carbonyls (qv), eg, Co, Fe, Ni, Rh, and Ir, have been used to cataly2e the oxo reaction, but cobalt and rhodium are the only economically practical choices. In the United States, Texas Eastman, Union Carbide, and Hoechst Celanese make 1-propanol by oxo technology (11). Texas Eastman, which had used conventional cobalt oxo technology with an HCo(CO)4 catalyst, switched to a phosphine-modified Rh catalyst ia 1989 (11) (see Oxo process). In Europe, 1-propanol is made by Hoechst AG and BASE AG (12). 

The hydroformylation reaction is carried out in the Hquid phase using a metal carbonyl catalyst such as HCo(CO)4 (36), HCo(CO)2[P( -C4H2)] (37), or HRh(CO)2[P(CgH3)2]2 (38,39). The phosphine-substituted rhodium compound is the catalyst of choice for new commercial plants that can operate at 353—383 K and 0.7—2 MPa (7—20 atm) (39). The differences among the catalysts are found in their intrinsic activity, their selectivity to straight-chain product, their abiHty to isomerize the olefin feedstock and hydrogenate the product aldehyde to alcohol, and the ease with which they are separated from the reaction medium (36). 

Most hydroformylation investigations reported since 1960 have involved trialkyl or triarylphosphine complexes of cobalt and, more recently, of rhodium. Infrared studies of phosphine complex catalysts under reaction conditions as well as simple metal carbonyl systems have provided substantial information about the postulated mechanisms. Spectra of a cobalt 1-octene system at 250 atm pressure and 150°C (21) contained absorptions characteristic for the acyl intermediate C8H17COCo(CO)4 (2103 and 2002 cm-1) and Co2(CO)8. The amount of acyl species present under these steady-state conditions increased with a change in the CO/ H2 ratio in the order 3/1 > 1/1 > 1/3. This suggests that for this system under these conditions, hydrogenolysis of the acyl cobalt species is a rate-determining step. 

Recently proof has been reported for a heterometallic bimolecular formation of aldehyde from a manganese hydride and acylrhodium species [2], Phosphine free, rhodium carbonyl species show the same kinetics as the cobalt system, i.e. the hydrogenolysis of the acyl-metal bond is rate-determining. Addition of hydridomanganese pentacarbonyl led to an increase of the rate of the hydroformylation reaction. The second termination reaction that takes place according to the kinetics under the reaction conditions (10-60 bar, 25 °C) is reaction (3). The direct reaction with H2 takes place as well, but it is slower on a molar basis than the manganese hydride reaction. 

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