Rhodium phosphine-free catalyst

CO competes for the metal, and phosphine-free catalyst may consequently be formed. For example, at a temperature of 80 °C and a pressure of 20 bar, a rhodium complex concentration of 0.5-1 mM, a twofold excess of xantphos is required (84). If the pressure is let down before the product stream enters the adsorption bed, dissociation can perhaps be sufficiently reduced. The product work-up (removal of alkene and solvent) requires depressurization in any event, and there is no need to maintain synthesis gas atmosphere in the sorption beds. 

Fig. 2.8 A d irect route to vinylboranes in rhodium-catalyzed hydroborations with phos-phine-free catalysts (including oxidative degradation of a rhodium phosphine). The key intermediate is a rhodium hydride, capable of reversible insertion into the alkene (step A), followed by addition of borane in step B. This leads to reductive elimination of RH in step C followed by boryl migration in step D. A further...

For the hydroformylation, (PPli j) Rli( H)(CO) with host 11 was used as the catalyst. An excess of PPhj (stemming from the catalyst precursor) was needed to avoid isomerization, as was found when phosphine-free precursors were used (at the concentrations used even bidentates should be added in excess to prevent substantial exchange with carbon monoxide). Linear to branched ratios of 2 1 were obtained and no isomerized alkene could be detected. These results are similar to those obtained by Kalck and coworkers [41]. As expected, catalysis for 11 is slower than that for (PPh3)3Rh(H)(CO) as the host is a bidentate phosphine catalysis with (PPh3)3Rh (H)(CO) strongly depends on the concentrations of rhodium and PPh3 and comparison of the rates of the two systems does not make sense. 

The reaction of pinacolborane with styrenes 127 in the presence of bis(chloro-l,5-cyclooctadienylrhodium) at room temperature provides styrenyl pinacol boronate 128 <1999TL2585, 2002BCJ825>. While hydroboration of alkenes is the predominant reaction with phosphine-containing rhodium catalysts such as Wilkinson s catalyst and Rh(PPh3)2COCl, dehydrogenative borylation dominates over hydroboration in the presence of phosphine-free... 

A system kinetically very similar to the phosphine-free rhodium carbonyl catalyst is obtained with bulky phosphites (Fig 6.3). At temperatures from 50 to 80°C, and CO and H2 partial pressures ranging from 10 to 70 bar, the rate of aldehyde formation is first order in H2 and approximately minus one order in CO. The reaction rate is independent of the concentration of 1-octene at conversions below 30%. The reaction was found to be first order in rhodium concentration and insensitive to the phosphite/rhodium ratio, provided that the absolute concentration was sufficiently high to generate a hydride complex from the pentanedionate precursor (reaction 9). 

The last contribution quoted in this section is a phosphine-free hydroformylation process based on a liquid triphasic system consisting of isooctane, water and trioctylmethylammonium chloride (TOMAC). The hydroformylation of model olefins required neat RhCls only as catalyst precursor. In the triphasic system, the catalyst is confined in the TOMAC phase, likely in the form of an ion pair. Products are obtained in excellent yields (> 90% at 80 °C) and high regioselectivity (>98%) in favour of the branched aldehyde in the case of styrene, while the exo isomer was obtained in >90% selectivity in the case of norbornene. The products were easily removed and the catalyst was recycled several times, with no leaching of rhodium into the organic phase. 

Mechanisms of catalytic hydroborations of olefins are thought to fall into two categories, and each category can be furtiier divided into two subsets. The reactions catalyzed by Wilkinson s catalyst and by phosphine-free rhodium catalysts are thought to occur by oxidative additions, migratory insertions, and reductive eliminations through two distinct groups of intermediates. The mechanisms of the reactions catalyzed by early metals and lanthanides occur without oxidations and reductions, and two types of mechanisms for reactions catalyzed by early metals have been identified. These four mechanisms are shown in Schemes 16.11-16.14. 

Chan s group investigated rhodium-phosphine complexes [16]. The catalysts were stabilized by an excess of free phosphine ligands, but this situation significantly lowered the activity in the absence of a promoter. A small amount of an amine was found to significantly increase the catalyst activity even in the presence of an excess of phosphine ligands. 

Efforts to tune the reactivity of rhodium catalysts by altering structure, solvent, and other factors have been pursued.49,493 50 Although there is (justifiably) much attention given to catalysts which provide /raor-addition processes, it is probably underappreciated that appropriate rhodium complexes, especially cationic phosphine complexes, can be very good and reliable catalysts for the formation of ( )-/3-silane products from a air-addition process. The possibilities and range of substrate tolerance are demonstrated by the two examples in Scheme 9. A very bulky tertiary propargylic alcohol as well as a simple linear alkyne provide excellent access to the CE)-/3-vinylsilane products.4 a 1 In order to achieve clean air-addition, cationic complexes have provided consistent results, since vinylmetal isomerization becomes less competitive for a cationic intermediate. Thus, halide-free systems with... 

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