Rhodium initial developments

Although the carbonylation of methanol using an iodide-promoted iridium complex was first reported by Monsanto researchers Roth and Pauhk in 1968, and its mechanism studied by Forster and others, it was the rhodium system that was initially developed for commercialization. A more complex mechanism for iridium, involving both anionic and neutral intermediates was discovered, but it would take over twenty years to coimnercialize an iridium-based system for methanol carbonylation (Scheme 21). In the Cativa process, the iridium complex is promoted by two distinct... 

Imidazoles and oxazoles have been elegantly exploited as directing groups in an intramolecular version of the reaction (Scheme 19.61) [90]. This reaction initially developed with ruthenium (i.e., RuH2(CO)(PPh3)3 and Ru(CO)2(PPh3)3) was effectively extended to rhodium (i.e., RhC PPhjlj and [RhCl(coe)2]2/PR3) catalysts. 

The industrial manufacture of acetic acid by methanol carbonylation (Equation (1)) has utilized catalysts based upon all three of the group 9 metals, since the initial development by BASF of a cobalt/iodide-based system. " The BASF process required harsh conditions of temperature and pressure, and suffered from relatively low selectivity. It was soon superceded by highly selective, low-pressure rhodium/iodide-based catalysts developed by Monsanto. The Monsanto process (and related variants operated by other manufacturers) quickly became dominant and remains one of the most successful examples of the commercial application of homogeneous catalysis.Rhodium catalysts for methanol carbonylation are discussed in Chapter 7.03. 

The rhodium complexes are excellent catalysts for hydrogenation of NBR. At low temperature and pressure, high catalyst concentrations are used to obtain a better rate of reactions. Due to higher selectivity of the reaction, pressure and temperature can be increased to very high values. Consequently the rhodium concentration can be greatly reduced, which leads to high turnover rates. The only practical drawback of Rh complex is its high cost. This has initiated the development of techniques for catalyst removal and recovery (see Section VU), as well as alternate catalyst systems based on cheaper noble metals, such as ruthenium or palladium (see Sections IV.A and B). 

The review of Morrison et al. (10) traces the development of the use of rhodium-chiral phosphine catalysts to about the end of 1974. This field was initiated by the suggested incorporation (216) of chiral phosphines, instead of triphenylphosphine, into the so-called Wilkinson catalyst, RhCl(PPh3)3 (Section II,A), or into closely related systems. Horner s group (217, 218) used such catalysts, formed in situ in benzene... 

Activation of a C-H bond requires a metallocarbenoid of suitable reactivity and electrophilicity.105-115 Most of the early literature on metal-catalyzed carbenoid reactions used copper complexes as the catalysts.46,116 Several chiral complexes with Ce-symmetric ligands have been explored for selective C-H insertion in the last decade.117-127 However, only a few isolated cases have been reported of impressive asymmetric induction in copper-catalyzed C-H insertion reactions.118,124 The scope of carbenoid-induced C-H insertion expanded greatly with the introduction of dirhodium complexes as catalysts. Building on initial findings from achiral catalysts, four types of chiral rhodium(n) complexes have been developed for enantioselective catalysis in C-H activation reactions. They are rhodium(n) carboxylates, rhodium(n) carboxamidates, rhodium(n) phosphates, and < // < -metallated arylphosphine rhodium(n) complexes. 

These reports announced the rapid development of a large variety of monodentate ligands for rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation. It was shown that the substrate scope for catalysts based on monodentate ligands is most probably at least as big as for their bidentate counterparts. Also, initial doubts about the activity and stability of the monodentate ligand-catalysts have been taken away. Several reports show that substrate catalyst ratios (SCRs) of 103 or higher, essential for industrial application, are possible. In addition, reaction rates are in the studied cases comparable to those reached by catalysts based on state-of-the-art bidentate ligands [16]. 

The synthesis of aldehydes via hydroformylation of alkenes is an important industrial process used to produce in the region of 6 million tonnes a year of aldehydes. These compounds are used as intermediates in the manufacture of plasticizers, soaps, detergents and pharmaceutical products [7], While the majority of aldehydes prepared from alkene hydroformylation are done so in organic solvents, some research in 1975 showed that rhodium complexes with sulfonated phosphine ligands immobilized in water were able to hydroformylate propene with virtually complete retention of rhodium in the aqueous phase [8], Since catalyst loss is a major problem in the production of bulk chemicals of this nature, the process was scaled up, culminating in the Ruhrchemie-Rhone-Poulenc process for hydroformylation of propene, initially on a 120000 tonne per year scale [9], The development of this biphasic process represents one of the major transitions since the discovery of the hydroformylation reaction. The key transitions in this field include [10] ... 

During the past two decades, within the series of our studies, we have developed a silylative coupling reaction of olefins with vinylsubstituted siHcon compounds which takes place in the presence of transition-metal complexes (e.g. mthenium and rhodium) that initially contain or generate M—H and M—Si bonds (for reviews, see Refs [5] and [6]). The reaction involves activation of the =C—H bond of olefins and cleavage of the =C—Si bond of vinylsilane. The reaction, which is catalyzed by complexes of the type [ M( x-OSiMe3)(cod) 2] (where M = Rh, Ir) occurs according to Equation 14.12 [71, 72). 

As would be expected, catalytic hydroboration is effective for alkynes as well as al-kenes, and prior examples have been reviewed [6]. An interesting development has been the diversion of the normal syn- to the anti-addition pathway for a terminal alkyne, with 99% (catechoborane) and 91% (pinacolborane) respectively (Fig. 2.5) [20]. The new pathway arises when basic alkylphosphines are employed in combination with [Rh(COD)Cl]2 as the catalyst in the presence of Et3N. Current thinking implies that this is driven by the initial addition of the rhodium catalyst into the alkynyl C-H bond, followed by [1,3]-migration of hydride and formal 1,1-addition of B-H to the resulting alkylidene complex. The reaction is general for terminal alkynes. 

Using this approach, we have successfully predicted the major product from the cyclization of more than 30 a-diazo esters and a-diazo yS-keto esters [15]. Not all rhodium-mediated intramolecular C-H insertion reactions will proceed to give a single dominant diastereomer. Our interest in this initial investigation was to develop a model for the transition state that will allow us to discern those cyclizations that will proceed with high diastereoselectivity. 

Our initial objective, in this investigation, had been to design a useful chiral auxihary. We were pleased to find that naphthylborneol 31, upon optimization of the catalyst and the reaction temperature, served effectively. Until useful chiral catalysts are developed, naphthylborneol 31 will be of significant practical value for directing the absolute course of cyclopentane construction by rhodium-mediated intramolecular C-H insertion. 

Oxidative amination of carbamates, sulfamates, and sulfonamides has broad utility for the preparation of value-added heterocyclic structures. Both dimeric rhodium complexes and ruthenium porphyrins are effective catalysts for saturated C-H bond functionalization, affording products in high yields and with excellent chemo-, regio-, and diastereocontrol. Initial efforts to develop these methods into practical asymmetric processes give promise that such achievements will someday be realized. Alkene aziridina-tion using sulfamates and sulfonamides has witnessed dramatic improvement with the advent of protocols that obviate use of capricious iminoiodinanes. Complexes of rhodium, ruthenium, and copper all enjoy application in this context and will continue to evolve as both achiral and chiral catalysts for aziridine synthesis. The invention of new methods for the selective and efficient intermolecular amination of saturated C-H bonds still stands, however, as one of the great challenges. 

After completing his initial intramolecular cycloaddition, Hodgson utilized conditions that had been optimized for the intermolecular cycloaddition of DMAD with simple cyclic carbonyl ylides used by Hashimoto and co-workers (139). Hodgson et al. (140) found that the reaction indeed gave excellent overall chemical yield, but the enantioselectivity dropped to 1%, giving essentially a racemic mixture. It appeared that ee ratios were sensitive to the electronic nature of the dipole. Hodgson chose to screen several binaphthol derived rhodium catalysts of the type developed by McKervey and Pirrung, due in part to the reports of... 

As mentioned in the previous section, the carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid is an important industrial process. Whereas the [Co2(CO)s]-catalyzed, iodide-promoted reaction developed by BASF requires pressures of the order of 50 MPa, the Monsanto rhodium-catalyzed synthesis, which is also iodide promoted and which was discovered by Roth and co-workers, can be operated even at normal pressure, though somewhat higher pressures are used in the production units.4,1-413 The rhodium-catalyzed process gives a methanol conversion to acetic acid of 99%, against 90% for the cobalt reaction. The mechanism of the Monsanto process has been studied by Forster.414 The anionic complex m-[RhI2(CO)2]- (95) initiates the catalytic cycle, which is shown in Scheme 26. 

The hydroformylation of olefins is one of the largest and most prominent industrial catalytic processes, producing millions of tons of aldehydes annually [102]. Initially, cobalt-carbonyl species were used as catalyst, though rhodium complexes modified by special ligands, usually phosphines, are predominantly used nowadays. Over the last two decades, continued development of new phosphine and phosphite ligands has allowed significant advances in hydroformylation chemistry, especially with respect to catalyst selectivity and stability [103]. 

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