Rhodium quaternary ammonium salts

The metal-catalysed autoxidation of alkenes to produce ketones (Wacker reaction) is promoted by the presence of quaternary ammonium salts [14]. For example, using copper(II) chloride and palladium(II) chloride in benzene in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, 1-decene is converted into 2-decanone (73%), 1,7-octadiene into 2,7-octadione (77%) and vinylcyclohexane into cyclo-hexylethanone (22%). Benzyltriethylammonium chloride and tetra-n-butylammo-nium hydrogen sulphate are ineffective catalysts. It has been suggested that the process is not micellar, although the catalysts have the characteristics of those which produce micelles. The Wacker reaction is also catalysed by rhodium and ruthenium salts in the presence of a quaternary ammonium salt. Generally, however, the yields are lower than those obtained using the palladium catalyst and, frequently, several oxidation products are obtained from each reaction [15]. 

Rhodium(III) complexes [e.g. (i-Pr,P)2Rh(H)Cl2] in the presence of quaternary ammonium salts are excellent catalysts for the hydrogenolysis of chloroarenes under mild conditions [5] other labile substituents are unaffected. Hydrodehalogenation of haloaryl ketones over a palladium catalyst to give acylbenzenes is also aided by the addition of Aliquat [6]. In the absence of the phase-transfer catalyst, or when the hydrogenation is conducted in ethanol, the major product is the corresponding alkyl-benzene, which is also produced by hydrodehalogenation of the halobenzyl alcohols. 

Although rhodium has probably not been recovered commercially by solvent extraction, it can be extracted by quaternary ammonium salts under certain conditions,250 the anion [Rh2Cl9]3-having been identified in extracts from aqueous phases containing the species [Rh(H20)Cl5]2-. 

Although isomerization of alkenes occurs simultaneously with the oxidation, rhodium and ruthenium complexes can also be used instead of palladium for the oxidation of terminal alkene [15]. With these catalysts, symmetrical quaternary ammonium salts such as tetrabutylammonium hydrogensulfate are effective. Interestingly, the rate of palladium-catalyzed oxidation of terminal alkenes can be improved by using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) instead of quaternary ammonium salts [16]. Thus, the rates of PEG-400-induced oxidation of 1-decene are up three times faster than those observed with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide under the same conditions. Interestingly, internal alkenes can be efficiently oxidized in this polyethylene glycol/water mixture. 

Quaternary ammonium salts of RhClJ catalyze the disproportionation of 1,3-cyclohexadiene in a two-phase system. At 20 °C, the products are benzene and H2 at 70-90 °C, benzene and cyclohexane are formed. The reaction does not proceed in the absence of an H donor and is initiated by water, alcohols, silicon hydrides, or by brief treatment with H2. The assumption that rhodium hydrides are the active catalysts is supported by the detection of hydride resonances at high field in the NMR spectrum (-11 to -12 ppm).Most dehydrogenation reactions use alcohols as substrates. The liquid-phase dehydrogenation of methanol is achieved by ruthenium phosphine catalysts, generated for example from... 

Whatever metal is used, homogeneous processes suffer from high cost resulting from the consumption of the catalyst, whether recycled or not. This is why two-phase catalytic processes have been developed such as hydroformylation catalyzed by rhodium complexes, which are dissolved in water thanks to hydrophilic phosphines (cf. Section 3.1.1.1) [17]. Due to the sensitivity of most dimerization catalysts to proton-active or coordinating solvents, the use of non-aqueous ionic liquids (NAILs) as catalyst solvents has been proposed. These media are typically mixtures of quaternary ammonium or phosphonium salts, such as 1,3-dialkylimi-dazolium chloride, with aluminum trichloride (cf. Section 3.1.1.2.2). They prove to be superb solvents for cationic active species such as the cationic nickel complexes which are the active species of olefin dimerization [18, 19]. The dimers. 

A process for the coproduction of acetic anhydride and acetic acid, which has been operated by BP Chemicals since 1988, uses a quaternary ammonium iodide salt in a role similar to that of Lil [8]. Beneficial effects on rhodium-complex-catalyzed methanol carbonylation have also been found for other additives. For example, phosphine oxides such as Ph3PO enable high catalyst rates at low water concentrations without compromising catalyst stability [40—42]. Similarly, iodocarbonyl complexes of ruthenium and osmium (as used to promote iridium systems, Section 3) are found to enhance the activity of a rhodium catalyst at low water concentrations [43,44]. Other compounds reported to have beneficial effects include phosphate salts [45], transition metal halide salts [46], and oxoacids and heteropolyacids and their salts [47]. 

Ionic liquids such as quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts have also attracted attention as a means of immobilizing the rhodium catalyst. Processes for carbonylation of methanol with either gas-phase [109] or liquid-phase [110] reactants using [Rh(CO)2I2] dissolved in an ionic liquid have been claimed. Ionic liquids are nonvolatile, which aids in product separation, and the anionic rhodium complex is highly soluble in them. However, the ionic liquids are relatively expensive and their high viscosities can create mass-transfer limitations associated with slow diffusion of reactants. 

The efficacy of an iridium/iodide catalyst for methanol carbonylation was discovered by Monsanto at the same time as their development of the process using the rhodium/iodide catalyst [5]. Mechanistic investigations by Forster employing in situ HPIR spectroscopy revealed additional complexity compared to the rhodium system [115]. In particular, the carbonylation rate and catalyst speciation were found to show a more complicated dependence on process variables, and three distinct regimes of catalyst behavior were identified. At relatively low concentrations of Mel, H20, and ionic iodide, a neutral iridium (I) complex [Ir(CO)sI] was found to dominate, and the catalytic reaction was inhibited by increasing the CO partial pressure. Addition of small amounts of a quaternary ammonium iodide salt caused the dominant iridium species to become an Ir(III) methyl complex, [Ir(CO)2l3Me]. Under these conditions, the rate... 

Itsimo [25] has also shown that polymer-supported OPEN monosulfonamides containing sulfonated pendent group (Scheme 16) are able to catalyze the HTR reduction of ketones in water with sodium formiate as hydrogen donor (S/C = 100). However, TsDPEN immobilized on polystyrene crosslinked or not, polymer 30 and 31 respectively, shrank in water. Sodium /j-styrene sulfonate was copolymerized with chiral A-(vinylbenzene-p-sulfonyl)-DPEN (20) imder radical polymerization conditions with or without DVB leading respectively to ligand 32 and 33. Control of the balance hydrophilicity/hydrophobieity of the polymer support is carried out by changing the salt from Na to quaternary ammonium. All of these polymers swelled in water, and their respective ruthenium, rhodium or iridium complexes were prepared. Compared to sodium salt polymer-supported catalyst from 32a and 33a, ammonium... 

The preparation of ethylene glycol directly from synthesis gas via homogeneous rhodium (14-20), ruthenium (21-26), and cobalt (27-30) catalysis has generally been limited by the high pressures necessary to effect reaction and the modest turnover frequencies. We have demonstrated the preparation of ethylene glycol and its monoalkyl ether derivatives from CO/H2 (eq. 1) using ruthenium or a Ru-Rh catalyst combination dispersed in a low-melting quaternary phosphonium or ammonium salt such as tetrabutylphosphonium bromide. Monohydric alkanols are the major by-products data in Table 1 illustrate typical preparations. The important features of this catalysis are ... 

The [2,3]-Stevens rearrangement is a thermal sigmatropic rearrangement of an ammonium ylide (38) to form unnatural amino acid derivatives 39 (Scheme 12). Traditionally, the ammonium ylides have been formed through alkylation of aminoesters 36 with aUcyl halides 37 to form quaternary salts followed by treatment with base. Although effective, the harsh conditions lead to side products and limited substrate scope. More recently, the coupling of diazoesters 40 and allylic amines 41 in the presence of metals like copper, rhodium, and palladium has been developed for the direct constmction of ammonium ylides 38 via metal carbenoid intermediates. " Although this approach represented an advance over the traditional alkylation chemistry, the use of diazoesters still limits the synthetic utility of these reactions. 

---