Palladium nickel catalysts

The behavior of carbon monoxide-hydrogen mixtures in the presence of metals of the platinum group lias been made the subject of special study by a number of investigators. Orloff82 was the first to observe that under certain conditions in the presence of a nickel-palladium catalyst, a reaction took place which resulted in the formation of ethylene. This is in contradiction to the observations of Breteau,88 who stated that in the presence of palladium sponge, carbon monoxide and hydrogen react in the cold to form methane and that at 400° C. this transformation becomes fairly rapid. Recently it has seemed desirable that the experiments of Orloff... 

Novel palladium catalysts show marked improvements in both yields and selectivities, compared to nickel carbonyl catalysts utilized in eadier commercial carbonylation processes (83,84). The palladium catalysts are also expected to be less hazardous. 

Hydrogenation Catalysts. The key to catalytic hydrogenation is the catalyst, which promotes a reaction which otherwise would occur too slowly to be useful. Catalysts for the hydrogenation of nitro compounds and nitriles are generally based on one or more of the group VIII metals. The metals most commonly used are cobalt, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhodium, and mthenium, but others, including copper (16), iron (17), and tellurium... 

Dry reduced nickel catalyst protected by fat is the most common catalyst for the hydrogenation of fatty acids. The composition of this type of catalyst is about 25% nickel, 25% inert carrier, and 50% soHd fat. Manufacturers of this catalyst include Calsicat (Mallinckrodt), Harshaw (Engelhard), United Catalysts (Sud Chemie), and Unichema. Other catalysts that stiH have some place in fatty acid hydrogenation are so-called wet reduced nickel catalysts (formate catalysts), Raney nickel catalysts, and precious metal catalysts, primarily palladium on carbon. The spent nickel catalysts are usually sent to a broker who seUs them for recovery of nickel value. Spent palladium catalysts are usually returned to the catalyst suppHer for credit of palladium value. 

Hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is one of the oldest and most widely used appHcations for supported catalysts, and much has been written in this field (55—57). Metals useflil in hydrogenation include cobalt, copper, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, mthenium, and silver, and there are numerous catalysts available for various specific appHcations. Most hydrogenation catalysts rely on extremely fine dispersions of the active metal on activated carbon, alumina, siHca-alumina, 2eoHtes, kieselguhr, or inert salts, such as barium sulfate. 

This reaction is favored by moderate temperatures (100—150°C), low pressures, and acidic solvents. High activity catalysts such as 5—10 wt % palladium on activated carbon or barium sulfate, high activity Raney nickel, or copper chromite (nonpromoted or promoted with barium) can be used. Palladium catalysts are recommended for the reduction of aromatic aldehydes, such as that of benzaldehyde to toluene. 

Dechlorination can be done in the vapor phase with palladium, platinum, copper, or nickel catalysts (23—26) or in the Hquid phase with palladium catalysts (27). The vapor-phase dechlorination of 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene is reported to give good yields of 1,3-dichlorobenzene (24,26). 

The reduction does not proceed smoothly at room temperature with the palladium catalyst. Raney nickel may be used as a catalyst with ethanol containing potassium hydroxide at room temperature, but about 15 hours are required for reduction. 

The hydrogenation of pyrazolylacetylenes shows no peculiarities. Ethynylpyra-zoles are hydrogenated in high yields to the corresponding ethane derivatives on Raney nickel catalyst, platinum dioxide, or palladium catalyst at room temperature in alcohol solution. 

Reaction of -picoline with a nickel-alumina catalyst has been reported to give a mixture of four isomeric dimethylbipyridines, one of which has been identified at 6,6 -dimethyl-2,2 -bipyridine. With palladium-on-carbon, 2,4-lutidine was found to be more reactive than pyridine,and the isolated biaryl has been assigned the structure (2). However, some confusion arises from the statement that this... 

The Preparation of 2,2 -Biqltnolines with Nickel and Palladium Catalysts Percentage Conversions" and Yields ... 

The acetate (1) and its mosylate analog (79) have been shown to undergo cydoad-dition with the CN double bond of alkyl imines to generate substituted pyrrolidines in the presence of nickel or palladium catalyst [35]. For example, both the phenyl imine (80) and the diazene (81) gave reasonable yields of adducts (82) and (83) respectively (Scheme 2.23). 

Complete reduction of the azepine ring to hexahydroazepine has been effected with hydrogen and palladium,40 or platinum,135 239 catalysts. For example, ethyl 1 f/-azepine-l-carboxylate is reduced quantitatively at room temperature to ethyl hexahydroazepine-l-carboxylate (92% bp 118 —120 3C).134 136 TV-Phenyl-S/Z-azepin -amine (1), however, with platinum(IV) oxide and hydrogen in methanol yields the hexahydroazepine 2 in which the amidine unit is preserved in the final product.34 The same result is obtained using 5% palladium/barium carbonate, or 2 % palladium/Raney nickel, as catalyst. 

The kinetics of hydrogenation of phenol has already been studied in the liquid phase on Raney nickel (18). Cyclohexanone was proved to be the reaction intermediate, and the kinetics of single reactions were determined, however, by a somewhat simplified method. The description of the kinetics of the hydrogenation of phenol in gaseous phase on a supported palladium catalyst (62) was obtained by simultaneously solving a set of rate equations for the complicated reaction schemes containing six to seven constants. The same catalyst was used for a kinetic study also in the liquid phase (62a). 

The last vertical column of the eighth group of the Periodic Table of the Elements comprises the three metals nickel, palladium, and platinum, which are the catalysts most often used in various reactions of hydrogen, e.g. hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, and hydroisomerization. The considerations which are of particular relevance to the catalytic activity of these metals are their surface interactions with hydrogen, the various states of its adatoms, and admolecules, eventually further influenced by the coadsorbed other reactant species. 

This conclusion was additionally confirmed by Palczewska and Janko (67) in separate experiments, where under the same conditions nickel-copper alloy films rich in nickel (and nickel films as well) were transformed into their respective hydride phases, which were proved by X-ray diffraction. The additional argument in favor of the transformation of the metal film into hydride in the side-arm of the Smith-Linnett apparatus consists of the observed increase of the roughness factor ( 70%) of the film and the decrease of its crystallite size ( 30%) after coming back from low to high temperatures for desorbing hydrogen. The effect is quite similar to that observed by Scholten and Konvalinka (9) for their palladium catalyst samples undergoing the (a — j8) -phase transformation. 

The reaction of arylbromides with amines affords mostly the corresponding aromatic hydrocarbon by using palladium catalysts, but the expected substituted anilines are formed in good yields by using a nickel (II) catalyst. 

If, instead of a palladium catalyst, a nickel catalyst, such as the bipyridylnickel(II) bromide, is used for the arylation of amines (Fig. 7), the reduction of the aryl halide into the corresponding aromatic hydrocarbon is still present for the primary or secondary benzylamines but, the arylation into substituted anilines is the main reaction even most often the only one, for the other types of amines. 

It is very likely that the difference between the nickel and palladium-catalysts corresponds to the reductive character or to the hydrogene affinity, less important for the nickel than for the palladium. 

---