Production of Acetaldehyde from Ethylene by the Wacker Process

3 Production of Acetaldehyde from Ethylene by the Wacker Process 

For long time, Pd has been used mainly as a heterogeneous catalyst for the hydrogenation of unsaturated bonds. A revolution in Pd chemistry occurred with the development of homogeneous Pd catalysts. The first example was the invention of the Wacker process in 1959, by which ethylene is oxidized to acetaldehyde using PdCl2 and CuCl2 as catalysts in aqueous solution (eq. 1.10) [13]. 

In 1894 Philips found that, when ethylene is passed into an aqueous solution of PdCl2, Pd(II) is reduced to Pd(0), which precipitates as black powder [14] and this 

Soon after the invention of the Wacker process the formation of vinyl acetate by the oxidative acetoxylation of ethylene using Pd(OAc)2 was discovered by Moiseev [16], and the industrial production of vinyl acetate based on this reation was developed. At present, vinyl acetate is produced commercially by a gas-phase reaction of ethylene, acetic acid and O using Pd catalyst supported on alumina or silica (eq. 1.11). 

---

Production of acetaldehyde from ethylene by the Wacker process using PdCl2 and CuCl2 as catalysts. 

---