Supported catalysts rhodium complexes

Both the rhodium and the cobalt complexes catalyze olefin isomerization as well as olefin hydroformylation. In the case of the rhodium(I) catalysts, the amount of isomerization decreases as the ligands are altered in the order CO > NR3 > S > PR3. When homogeneous and supported amine-rhodium complexes were compared, it was found that they both gave similar amounts of isomerization, whereas with the tertiary phosphine complexes the supported catalysts gave rather less olefin isomerization than their homogeneous counterparts (44, 45). 

Polymer-supported catalysts incorporating organometaUic complexes also behave in much the same way as their soluble analogues (28). Extensive research has been done in attempts to develop supported rhodium complex catalysts for olefin hydroformylation and methanol carbonylation, but the effort has not been commercially successful. The difficulty is that the polymer-supported catalysts are not sufftciendy stable the valuable metal is continuously leached into the product stream (28). Consequendy, the soHd catalysts fail to eliminate the problems of corrosion and catalyst recovery and recycle that are characteristic of solution catalysis. 

The polymers were converted to supported catalysts corresponding to homogeneous complexes of cobalt, rhodium and titanium. The cobalt catalyst exhibited no reactivity in a Fischer-Tropsch reaction, but was effective in promoting hydroformylation, as was a rhodium analog. A polymer bound titanocene catalyst maintained as much as a 40-fold activity over homogeneous titanocene in hydrogenations. The enhanced activity indicated better site isolation even without crosslinking. 

Catalyst Reactivation Using Propargyl Acetate. The Wiped-Film Evaporator/02 reactivation procedure and the Capture of Active Catalyst Using Solid Acidic Support with FI2 Elution procedure (see above) both involve the separation of uncomplexed phosphine from rhodium complex. Since the value of the uncomplexed phosphine is significant, technology that does not require separation of phosphine during catalyst reactivation is desirable. 

In subsequent work the same supported catalysts were used in different reactor setups [20] (Figure 3.3). A vapour-phase reactor in which the supported catalyst was mounted on a bed was used for the hydroformylation of volatile alkenes such as cis-2-butene and trifluoropropene. The initial activities and selectivity s were similar to those of the homogeneous solutions, i.e. a TOF of 114 and 90% ee in the hydroformylation of trifluoropropene was reported. No rhodium was detected in the product phase, which means less then 0.8% of the loaded rhodium had leached. The results were, however, very sensitive to the conditions applied and, especially at longer reaction times, the catalyst decomposed. In a second approach the polymer supported complex was packed in a stainless steal column and installed in a continuous flow set-up. 

The existence of two different rhodium species co-existing on the silica support can be used as an advantage by controlling their relative amount. Under standard hydroformylation conditions, the cationic species and the neutral hydride complex are both present in significant amounts. Hence hydroformylation and hydrogenation will both proceed under a CO/H2 atmosphere. Indeed a clean one-pot reaction of 1-octene to 1-nonanol was performed, using the supported catalyst for a hydroformylation-hydrogenation cascade reaction. 98 % of the 1-octene was converted in the... 

For the supported catalyst it is expected that the ligand does not leach since it is chemically bonded to the carrier. In contrast, the rhodium metal bound to the ligand is subject to leaching due to the reversible nature of the complex formation. The amount will depend on the equilibrium between rhodium dissolved in the organic phase and that bound to the ligand. When an equilibrium concentration of 10 ppb Rh is attained, the yearly loss of Rh for a 100 kton production plant will be about 1 kg Rh per year. Compared to the reactor contents of rhodium (see Table 3.9, 70 kg Rh) this would result in a loss of 1.5% of the inventory per year, which would be acceptable. 

Some general reviews on hydrogenation using transition metal complexes that have appeared within the last five years are listed (4-7), as well as general reviews on asymmetric hydrogenation (8-10) and some dealing specifically with chiral rhodium-phosphine catalysts (11-13). The topic of catalysis by supported transition metal complexes has also been well reviewed (6, 14-29), and reviews on molecular metal cluster systems, that include aspects of catalytic hydrogenations, have appeared (30-34). 

Electron spin resonance (ESR) signals, detected from phosphinated polystyrene-supported cationic rhodium catalysts both before and after use (for olefinic and ketonic substrates), have been attributed to the presence of rhodium(II) species (348). The extent of catalysis by such species generally is uncertain, although the activity of one system involving RhCls /phosphinated polystyrene has been attributed to rho-dium(II) (349). Rhodium(II) phosphine complexes have been stabilized by steric effects (350), which could pertain to the polymer alternatively (351), disproportionation of rhodium(I) could lead to rhodium(II) [Eq. (61)]. The accompanying isolated metal atoms in this case offer a potential source of ESR signals as well as the catalysis. 

Fig. 41.13 Supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) catalyst. The ionic liquid phase containing a rhodium complex is immobilized on the surface of a silica gel support material.

An alternative strategy for catalyst immobilisation uses ion-pair interactions between ionic catalyst complexes and polymeric ion exchange resins. Since all the rhodium complexes in the catalytic methanol carbonylation cycle are anionic, this is an attractive candidate for ionic attachment. In 1981, Drago et al. described the effective immobilisation of the rhodium catalyst on polymeric supports based on methylated polyvinylpyridines [48]. The activity was reported to be equal to the homogeneous system at 120 °C with minimal leaching of the supported catalyst. The ionically bound complex [Rh(CO)2l2] was identified by infrared spectroscopic analysis of the impregnated resin. 

The prototype reaction was the hydroformylation of oleyl alcohol (water insoluble) with a water-soluble rhodium complex, HRh(C0)[P(m-C6H4S03Na)3]3 (Figure 6.5). Oleyl alcohol was converted to the aldehyde (yield = 97%) using 2 mol % Rh with respect to the substrate and cyclohexane as the solvent, at 50 atmospheres CO/H2, and 100°C. The SAPCs were shown to be stable upon recycling, and extensive work proved that Rh is not leached into the organic phase. Since neither oleyl alcohol nor its products are water soluble, the reaction must take place at the aqueous-organic interface where Rh must be immobilized. Also, if the metal catalyst was supported on various controlled pore glasses with... 

The rhodium complex with bis(diphenylphosphino)phenoxazine was immobilized on silica using the sol-gel technique or by a direct grafting to commercially available silica [127]. Under standard hydroformylation conditions (CO/H2 atmosphere), a neutral hydridic complex (57) and cationic species (58) (Scheme 4.35) coexist on the support and act as a hydroformylation/hydrogenation sequence catalyst, giving selectively 1-nonanol from 1-octene 98% of 1-octene were converted to mainly linear nonanal which was subsequently hydrogenated to 1-nonanol. The... 

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