Selectivity, in catalytic hydrogenation

P. N. Rylander, Use of Solvents to Achieve Improved Selectivities in Catalytic Hydrogenation, Chemical Catalyst News, Engelhard Corporation, October, 1989. 

Solvents are often used in catalytic hydrogenation (< 7). Solvents may be one of the best means available for markedly altering the selectivity, a fact not sufficiently appreciated. Solvents also help to moderate the heat of hydroge nation, to aid in catalyst handling and recovery, and to permit the use of solid substrates. A convenient solvent may be the product itself or the solvent used in a prior or subsequent step. 

The reverse ME technique provides an easy route to obtain monodispersed metal nanoparticles of the defined size. To prepare supported catalyst, metal nanoparticles are first purified from the ME components (liquid phase and excess of surfactant) while retaining their size and monodispersity and then deposited on a structured support. Due to the size control, the synthesized material exhibits high catalytic activity and selectivity in alkyne hydrogenation. Structured support allows suitable catalyst handling and reuse. The method of the catalyst preparation is not difficult and is recommended for the... 

Selectivity in the hydrogenation reaction of dienes to monoenes can be achieved by two types of catalytic system (i) those which are completely inert with respect to the hydrogenation of the resulting monoenes and (ii) those for which the selectivity is due to the discrimination based on thermodynamic and/ or kinetic factors that suppress the rate of formation of the saturated hydrocarbon. The latter approach is the most common way of achieving selectivity for these hydrogenations. 

Catalytic hydrogen transfer results usually in cis (jyn) addition of hydrogen and is sometimes more selective than catalytic hydrogenation with hydrogen gas (p. 44). 

The double bond in indole and its homologs and derivatives is reduced easily and selectively by catalytic hydrogenation over platinum oxide in ethanol and fluoroboric acid [456], by sodium borohydride [457], by sodium cyanoborohydride [457], by borane [458,459], by sodium in ammonia [460], by lithium [461] and by zinc [462]. Reduction with sodium borohydride in acetic acid can result in alkylation on nitrogen giving JV-ethylindoline [457]. 

Quinoline homologs and derivatives, including those with double bonds in the side chains, were reduced selectively by catalytic hydrogenation over platinum oxide (side chain double bonds), and to dihydro- and tetrahydro-quinolines by sodium in butanol, by zinc and formic acid, and by triethylam-monium formate [319, 472]. Catalytic hydrogenation of quinoline and its derivatives has been thoroughly reviewed [439]. 

Oximes undergo hydrogenation to hydroxylamines and/or amines depending on reaction conditions. Platinum oxide is the most frequently used catalyst for selective hydrogenation of oximes to hydroxylamines. Reduction of chiral oxime 96 over palladium catalyst (equation 66) proceeds in high yield and stereoselectivity. High stereoselectivity was observed in catalytic hydrogenation of a-alkoxyoximes . 

The paper deals with some new data concerning the state of the metal after reduction and the catalytic functions of zeolite catalysts containing nickel and platinum. By using the molecular sieve selectivity in the hydrogenation of mesitylene it has been proved that metal (platinum) is contained in the volume of the zeolite crystal. The temperature dependence of the formation of nickel crystals was investigated. The aluminosilicate structure and the zeolite composition influence mainly the formation of the metal surface which determines the catalytic activity. In the hydrocracking of cumene and disproportionation of toluene a bifunctional action of catalysts has been established. Hydrogen retarded the reaction. 

Magnesium oxide exhibited high activity and high selectivity in the hydrogen transfer from alcohols to studied nitroarenes. Because of the limited space of the paper the complete amine yield - temperature dependence was shown only for nitrobenzene reduction (Table 1). However, also for other reactants the yield of the aminic product increased continously between the values obtained at the lowest (350°C) and the highest (450°C) reaction temperatures. Below 350°C the complete lack of activity of MgO in the studied transformation was noted. The same was observed by us earlier (ref. 2) in the case the catalytic transfer reduction of other functional groups. 

Iridium,204,205 together with osmium, has been not widely used in catalytic hydrogenation. Recently, however, iridium or iridium-based catalysts have been shown to be effective in various hydrogenations, such as in selective hydrogenation of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes to allylic alcohols (Section 5.2), of aromatic nitro compounds to the corresponding hydroxylamines (Section 9.3.6), of halonitrobenzenes to haloanilines without loss of halogen (Section 9.3.2), and in the stereoselective hydrogenation of carbon to carbon double bonds (see, e.g., eqs. 3.25-3.27 and Table... 

Similarly, the solvent can have a dramatic effect on the rate and selectivity of catalytic reactions e.g. this is often the case in catalytic hydrogenations. 

The addition of trimethylphosphine to these rhodium/zeolite catalysts destroyed all catalytic activity because the phosphine was small enough to fit into the zeolite cavity and could deactivate all of the rhodium in the catalyst. The bulky tributylphosphine, however, could not enter the cavity and, thereby, only blocked the external rhodium from further reaction. This specific blocking enhanced the selectivity in the hydrogenation of a mixture of cyclopentene and 4-methylcyclohexene over a Rh/ZSM-11 catalyst. After treatment of the catalyst with tributylphosphine to block the external catalytically active sites, only the... 

Platinum catalysts deposited on the supports modified with transition metal oxide monolayers exhibited high activity and satisfactory selectivity in the hydrogenation of unsaturated aldehydes to the corresponding unsaturated alcohols. Platinum acetylacetonate was a more suitable catalyst precursor than hexachloroplatinic acid in the preparation of the transition metal-O-Pt catalytic system for the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde and... 

The silica supported palladium-copper catalysts are selective in the hydrogenation of monosubstituted acetylenes giving high yields of either olefins or saturated hydrocarbons, depending on the reaction time. In addition, the catalytic system shows reasonable selectivity towards cis-olefins in the hydrogenation of disubstituted acetylenes. 

Air-oxidized Ni-graphite (obtained by air exposure of dispersed Ni on graphite) is a less active catalyst not affected by aging. A bond selectivity in the hydrogenation of polyfunctional compounds is observed, with partial reduction of j3-ionone, 22, to dihy-droionone, 23. The same reduction is accomplished by the use of triethylsilane in the presence of catalytic amounts of RhCl(PPh3)3 followed by hydrolysis ... 

The use of both types of modifier to influence the selectivity of heterogeneous catalysts is not new. It has long been known, for example, that modifiers can have a powerful selectivity-enhancing effect in catalytic hydrogenation the Rosenmund reduction of acid chlorides to aldehydes is an early example of this. Another well-known modifier effect is rate and selectivity enhancement by bismuth in precious metal-catalyzed oxidations (Section 9.3). We feel, however, that the enormous po-... 

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