Ruthenium complexes hydroformylation

The effects of changes in KOH concentration on catalyst activity for benzaldehyde reduction are complex. Figure 2 compares the present work with KOH concentration studies for ruthenium catalyzed hydroformylation ... 

A highly regio- and enantio-selective hydroformylation of alkenes, such as PhCH= CH2, CH2=CHCH2CN, and CH2=CHOAc, catalysed by ruthenium complexes with (g) 2,5-disubstituted phospholane ligands has been reported. With (83) as the ligand, the turnover rates over 4000 h-1 at 80 °C, have been attained.108 (Acac)Rh(CO)2-TangPhos [Tangphos = (84)] has been developed as a new enantioselective catalyst for asymmetric hydroformylation of norbornene and other [2.2.1]-bicyclic alkenes (55-92% ee).109... 

The hydroformylation of alkenes to give linear aldehydes constitutes the most important homogeneously catalyzed process in industry today [51]. The hydroformylation of propene is especially important for the production of n-bu-tyraldehyde, which is used as a starting material for the manufacture of butanol and 2-ethylhexanol. Catalysts based on cobalt and rhodium have been the most intensively studied for the hydroformylation of alkenes, because they are industrially important catalysts. While ruthenium complexes have also been reported to be active catalysts, ruthenium offers few advantages over cobalt or... 

Ruthenium is not an effective catalyst in many catalytic reactions however, it is becoming one of the most novel and promising metals with respect to organic synthesis. The recent discovery of C-H bond activation reactions [38] and alkene metathesis reactions [54] catalyzed by ruthenium complexes has had a significant impact on organic chemistry as well as other chemically related fields, such as natural product synthesis, polymer science, and material sciences. Similarly, carbonylation reactions catalyzed by ruthenium complexes have also been extensively developed. Compared with other transition-metal-catalyzed carbonylation reactions, ruthenium complexes are known to catalyze a few carbonylation reactions, such as hydroformylation or the reductive carbonylation of nitro compounds. In the last 10 years, a number of new carbonylation reactions have been discovered, as described in this chapter. We ex-... 

Hydroformylation can also be achieved using ruthenium complexes such as Ru(CO)3(PPh3)2, by platinum-tin catalysts,59 and by PtH(Ph2POH)(PPh3) made from Pt(COD)2, PPh3, and Ph2POH. The latter system yields ketones when under high ethylene pressure. Ketone formation can also be observed in other systems and occurs by the reaction sequence ... 

Water soluble polymers such as poly(enolato-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) (PEW) act as polymeric ligands to Rh in the biphasic hydroformylation of olefins.170 Another type of polymeric ligands are phosphinated dendrimers, i.e., regularly branched polymers with an almost spherical morphology, which carry PPh2 substituents on the surface, suitable, e.g., for attaching ruthenium complexes.171... 

Metal enolates have played a Umited role in the metal-catalyzed isomerization of al-kenes . As illustrated in a comprehensive review by Bouwman and coworkers, ruthenium complex Ru(acac)3 (51) has been used to isomerize a wide range of substituted double bonds, including aUylic alcohols (131), to the corresponding ketones (132) (equation 38) . The isomerization of aUylic alcohols affords products that have useful applications in natural product synthesis and in bulk chemical processes. An elegant review by Fogg and dos Santos shows how these complexes can be used in tandem catalysis, where an alkene is subjected to an initial isomerization followed by a hydroformylation reaction ... 

One of the most significant processes that involve CO in organic industrial chemistry is the hydroformylation of alkene, or the 0x0 process, in which rhodium and cobalt complex catalysts are used. Ruthenium is a strong candidate for replacing the very expensive rhodium catalyst. Further, ruthenium complexes are excellent catalysts for the addition of formyl groups of aldehydes, formates and formamides to alkenes. 

The hydroformylation reaction or 0x0 process is an important industrial synthetic tool. Starting from an alkene and using syngas, aldehydes with one or more carbon atoms are obtained. In almost all industrial processes for the hydroformylation of alkenes, rhodium or cobalt complexes are used as catalysts [33]. A number of studies on ruthenium complex-catalyzed hydroformylation have been reported [34]. One of the reasons for the extensive studies on ruthenium complex catalysts is that, although the rhodium catalysts used in industry are highly active, they are very expensive, and hence the development of a less-expensive catalytic system is required. Since inexpensive ruthenium catalysts can achieve high selectivity for desired u-alde-hydes or n-alcohols, if the catalytic activity can be improved to be comparable with that of rhodium catalysts, it is possible that a ruthenium-catalyzed 0x0 process would be realized. 

The ruthenium complex-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-alkene was first examined by Wilkinson s group. Ru(CO)3(PPh3)2/phosphine catalysts were found to have moderate catalytic activity [35-37]. Ru3(CO)i2 [38] and anionic hydridocluster complexes such as [NEt4][Ru3H(CO)ii] [39] have also been shown to have catalytic activity. In molten phosphonium salt, Ru3(CO)i2/2,2 -bipyridine has high catalytic activity [40]. The Ru3(CO)i2/l,10-phenanthroline catalyst in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) shows excellent activity and selectivity for u-aldehydes (Eq. 11.10) [41]. 

The hydroformylation of alkenes using CO2 instead of CO is an attractive target reaction. Since ruthenium complexes are active catalysts for the reduction of CO2 to CO and also for hydroformylation, it is expected that the hydroformylation of an alkene with CO2 would be successful. Indeed, Sasaki and coworkers found that Ru4H4(CO)i2/LiCl catalyzed the hydroformylation of cyclohexene to give (hydroxymethyl) cyclohexane in 88% yield [141]. 

Although ruthenium is significantly less expensive than rhodium and although its use has been recommended since 1960 (7) for the oxo synthesis, complexes of this metal have not been developed as catalysts. However, many papers and patents have referred to the results obtained employing various ruthenium complexes. The purpose of this article is to analyze the work done involving ruthenium compounds, restricting the scope only to the hydroformylation reaction and not to the carbonylation reaction, which would demand to too lengthy an article. In this review we examine successively mononuclear ruthenium complexes, ruthenium clusters as precursors, photochemical activation, and supported catalysis. 

The same catalyst precursor, generated from [(EDTA)RuCI] which is also water soluble, was used for the hydroformylation of allylic alcohol under the same reaction conditions (//). At 50 bar and 130°C, in water as solvent, 4-hydroxybutanal was produced [Eq. (5)], together with about 2% of formaldehyde. However, the reaction proceeded further to give butane-1,4-diol by hydrogenation and y-butyrolactone as well as dihydrofuran by cyclization [Eq. (6)]. The same catalytic cycle as that proposed in Scheme 3 can be considered. A kinetic investigation revealed a first-order dependence on the ruthenium complex concentration and on the allyl alcohol... 

This section surveys the use of various di-, tri-, and polynuclear ruthenium complexes as precursors for the homogeneous hydroformylation of alkenes. Several arbitrary assumptions have been made so as to include dinuclear starting complexes which are strictly not cluster compounds. Moreover, no distinction is made between neutral and anionic precursors. Also, in several cases, particularly in the patents, information is lacking concerning the intermediate species involved in the catalytic cycles. Interestingly, half of the described systems come from patents, and there are few fundamental studies which clearly establish the implication of cluster species during the catalysis. 

Knifton has also shown (36 - 38,40) that nitrogen- or phosphorus-ligand modified ruthenium complexes, in a phosphonium salt matrix, can conveniently catalyze the hydroformylation of terminal alkenes with high selec-tivities in linear oxo products. Usually selectivities better than 80% were achieved. In the best case (160°C, 95 bar. CO/H2= 1/2) a linearity in nonanol of 94% was obtained starting from [Ru3(CO),2], 2,2 -bipyridine. and [PBu4]Br. The main products were alcohols and not aldehydes. However, it is often difficult to reduce the isomerization of oct-l-ene as well as its hydrogenation. The [Ru3(CO),2l/2,2 -bipyridine (bipy) system has been extensively explored. Two equilibria have been proposed to account for the infrared data and the effects of the bipy ligand [eqs. (8) and (9)]. 

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