Propylene catalysts, cobalt complexes

To make butyraldehyde, the precursor for NBA, the so-called Oxo process is used, reacting chemical grade propylene with hydrogen and. carbon monoxide at 250-300°F and 3500-4000 psi. See Figure 14-4.) Under those conditions, both feeds are liquids. The catalyst is an oil-soluble cobalt carbonyl complex dissolved in the propylene. If rhodium-based catalysts or complexes based on rhodium carbonyls and triphenyl phosphine... 

Homogeneous catalysis concerns processes in which a catalyst is in solution with at least one of the reactants. An example of homogeneous catalysis is the industrial Oxo process for manufacturing normal isobutylaldehyde. ft has propylene, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen as the reactants and a liquid-phase cobalt complex as the catalyst. 

Cobalt compounds are useful chemical catalysts for the synthesis of fuels (Fi-scher-Tropsch process), the synthesis of alcohols and aldehydes from olefins, hydrogen and carbon monoxide at elevated temperatures and pressures ( oxo process , hydroformylation ). They are also used in petroleum refining and the oxidation of organic compounds. In the oxo process, cobalt carbonyl, Co2(CO)g, is employed or generated in situ. For the selective production of n-butanol from propylene, hydrogen and CO, an organophosphine-modified cobalt carbonyl complex is used as the catalyst. Cobalt salts are proven oxidation catalysts examples include the production of terephthalic acid by the oxidation of p-xylene, and the manufacture of phenol by the oxidation of toluene. 

Early catalysts for acrolein synthesis were based on cuprous oxide and other heavy metal oxides deposited on inert siHca or alumina supports (39). Later, catalysts more selective for the oxidation of propylene to acrolein and acrolein to acryHc acid were prepared from bismuth, cobalt, kon, nickel, tin salts, and molybdic, molybdic phosphoric, and molybdic siHcic acids. Preferred second-stage catalysts generally are complex oxides containing molybdenum and vanadium. Other components, such as tungsten, copper, tellurium, and arsenic oxides, have been incorporated to increase low temperature activity and productivity (39,45,46). 

Because of the enhanced effectiveness of the cobalt(III) complex with piperidinium end-capping arms (Scheme 6) compared to standard (salen)CoX catalysts for the copolymerization of propylene oxide and CO2, Nozaki and coworkers were able to prepare in a stepwise manner a tapered block terpolymer by first copolymerizing propylene oxide/C02 followed by 1-hexene oxide/C02 [31]. 

The transition group compound (catalyst) and the metal alkyl compound (activator) form an organometallic complex through alkylation of the transition metal by the activator which is the active center of polymerization (Cat). With these catalysts not only can ethylene be polymerized but also a-olefins (propylene, 1-butylene, styrene) and dienes. In these cases the polymerization can be regio- and stereoselective so that tactic polymers are obtained. The possibilities of combination between catalyst and activator are limited because the catalytic systems are specific to a certain substrate. This means that a given combination is mostly useful only for a certain monomer. Thus conjugated dienes can be polymerized by catalyst systems containing cobalt or nickel, whereas those systems... 

Firsova et al. (136) also investigated a cobalt molybdate catalyst containing a small amount of Fe3+, after exposure to a reaction mixture of propylene and oxygen. The authors observed the valence change of Fe3+ to Fe2+ and the formation of a surface complex between the hydrocarbon and the iron (Fe—O—C—). In contrast to pure iron molybdate which also forms a surface Fe—O—C— complexes, the electronic transitions in the cobalt iron molybdate were reversible. The observed valence change showed that iron ions increase the electronic interaction between ions in the catalyst and the components of the reaction mixture. 

The hydroformylation of alkenes is commonly run using soluble metal carbonyl complexes as catalysts but there are some reports of heterogeneously catalyzed reactions of olefins with hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Almost all of these are vapor phase reactions of ethylene or propylene with hydrogen and carbon monoxide catalyzed by rhodium, " 20 ruthenium,nickel, 22,123 cobalt, 23,124 and cobalt-molybdenum 23 catalysts as well as various sulfided metal catalysts. 23,125,126... 

Hydroformylation refers to the addition of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to unsaturated systems. The hydroformylation of olefins is also known as the oxo synthesis or the Roelen reaction in honor of its inventor. It is one of the major industrial processes. Technical plants use cobalt- or rhodium-based catalysts the active species are supposed to be mononuclear complexes (194). The most desired oxo product is butanal, generated by the hydroformylation of propylene (195). 

Dehydrogenation to methyl methacrylate of the isobotyrate produced by the carbonyiation of propylene in the presence of methanol and a complex of rhodium, cobalt or palladium. The isobutyrate is converted with catalysts based on molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, phosphomoiybdic acids and possibly heteropolyacids. It has been developed chiefly by Asahi, BASF, Eastman, Mitsubishi, Mobil, foray, etc. 

Influence of Catalyst Preparation. Pebrine reported on the influence of the synthesis conditions of HZSM-5 on the selectivity toward light olefins. Synthesizing ZSM-5 in the presence of a tetra-urea-cobalt(II) complex resulted in an ethylene yield of 24.3 wt% of the hydrocarbon fraction at 43.7% methanol conversion, whereas the conventionally prepared ZSM-5 yielded only 18 wt% ethylene at the same conditions and conversion. Heering et al. mentioned that the conversion of dimethylether on ZSM-5 catalysts crystallized from a sodium-free gel with 1,6-dicunino-hexane as organic base was more selective toward both ethylene and propylene than on a conventionally prepared zeolite in the sodium form from a gel containing tetrapropylammonium. 

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