Rhodium, reaction with methane

Tn recent years ultrahigh vacuum methods have been applied to cata-lytic studies on initially clean metal surfaces having low surface area. In several instances (the hydrogenolysis of cyclopropane over platinum (I) and the catalytic methanation reaction over rhodium (2) and nickel (3)) a link between ultrahigh vacuum methods and conventional catalytic measurements was established. That is, specific reaction rates over low area cm ) catalyst samples agreed with specific reaction... 

However, since 1970 the preferred method of acetic acid manufacture is carbonylation of methanol (Monsanto process), involving reaction of methanol and carbon monoxide (both derived from methane) with rhodium and iodine as catalysts at 175°C and 1 atm. The yield of acetic acid is 99% based on methanol and 90% based on carbon monoxide. 

In contrast to the acetaldehyde decarbonylation, reactions with ethanol over Rh (111) did not lead to formation of methane but rather to an oxametallocycle via methyl hydrogen abstraction. These data suggest that ethanol formed over supported rhodium catalysts may not be due to hydrogenation of acetaldehyde. This study shows how surface science studies of model catalysts and surfaces can be used to extract information about reaction mechanisms since the nature of surface intermediates can often be identified by methods such as temperature programmed desorption and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. 

Photochemical decomposition of diazo(trimethylsilyl)methane (1) in the presence of alkenes has not been thoroughly investigated (see Houben-Weyl Vol. E19b, p 1415). The available experimental data [trimethylsilylcyclopropane (17% yield) and la,2a,3j8-2,3-dimethyl-l-trimethylsilylcyclopropane (23% yield)] indicate that cyclopropanation occurs only in low yield with ethene and ( )-but-2-ene. In both cases the formal carbene dimer is the main product. In reactions with other alkenes, such as 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene, tetrafluoroethene or hexafluoro-propene, no cyclopropanes could be detected.The transition-metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazo(trimethylsilyl)methane (1) has been applied to the synthesis of many different silicon-substituted cyclopropanes (see Table 3 and Houben-Weyl Vol.E19b, p 1415) 3.20a,b,2i.25 ( iQp. per(I) chloride has been most commonly used for carbene transfer to ethyl-substituted alkenes, cycloalkenes, styrene, and related arylalkenes. For the cyclopropanation of acyl-substituted alkenes, palladium(II) chloride is the catalyst of choice, while palladium(II) acetate was less efficient, and copper(I) chloride, copper(II) sulfate and rhodium(II) acetate dimer were totally unproductive. The cyclopropanation of ( )-but-2-ene represents a unique... 

The rapid rate of reaction of oxygen with both CO and H2 explains the absence of surface oxygen after the reaction. Yet the pretreatment of the surface with oxygen alters the product distribution for a short period (alcohols and other oxygenated products form), and then the methanation reaction becomes predominant again as its steady state is reached. Pretreatment of the surface with C2H2 decreases the rate of methanation markedly. The eflFects of various pretreatments on the rhodium surface for the rate of methanation and the product distribution are summarized in Table VII. 

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