Temperature rhodium catalysis

Carbonylative coupling reaction of Ar3Bi and carbon monoxide takes place under rhodium catalysis (Scheme 46) [61, 62]. Ph3Bi reacted with carbon monoxide in the presence of 5 mol% of [RhCl(CO)2]2 in MeCN at room temperature to give benzophenone in 71% yield together with a small amount of biphenyl. The same... 

Homogeneous unmodified or ligand-modified rhodium catalysts are predominantly utilized for the transformation of olefins with a chain length major advantages of rhodium catalysis are the reduced syngas pressure and lower reaction temperatures. These features have also been recognized by the chemical industry. Thus, in 1980 less than 10% of hydroformylation was conducted with rhodium, and by 1995 this had been increased to about 80% [3]. In some cases, a combination of Co and Rh can be advantageous [4]. 

Kurd and coworkers developed a general method for the synthesis of N-H aziridine from unfuncionaUzed olefins under mild conditions using 0-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)hydroxylamine (DPH) via homogeneous rhodium catalysis [112]. This method is operationally simple, scalable, broad functional group tolerable, and fast at ambient temperature, furnishing N-H aziridines in good to excellent yields (Scheme 2.11). 

The original catalysts for this process were iodide-promoted cobalt catalysts, but high temperatures and high pressures (493 K and 48 MPa) were required to achieve yields of up to 60% (34,35). In contrast, the iodide-promoted, homogeneous rhodium catalyst operates at 448—468 K and pressures of 3 MPa. These conditions dramatically lower the specifications for pressure vessels. Yields of 99% acetic acid based on methanol are readily attained (see Acetic acid Catalysis). 

The reaction of crotyl bromide with ethyl diazoacetate once again reveals distinct differences between rhodium and copper catalysis. Whereas with copper catalysts, the products 125 and 126, expected from a [2,3] and a [1,2] rearrangement of an intermediary halonium ylide, are obtained by analogy with the crotyl chloride reaction 152a), the latter product is absent in the rhodium-catalyzed reaction at or below room temperature. Only when the temperature is raised to ca. 40 °C, 126 is found as well, together with a substantial amount of bromoacetate 128. It was assured that only a minor part of 126 arose from [2,3] rearrangement of an ylide derived from 3-bromo-l-butene which is in equilibrium with the isomeric crotyl bromide at 40 °C. 

Rhodium(II) acetate was found to be much more superior to copper catalysts in catalyzing reactions between thiophenes and diazoesters or diazoketones 246 K The outcome of the reaction depends on the particular diazo compound 246> With /-butyl diazoacetate, high-yield cydopropanation takes place, yielding 6-eco-substituted thiabicyclohexene 262. Dimethyl or diethyl diazomalonate, upon Rh2(OAc)4-catalysis at room temperature, furnish stable thiophenium bis(alkoxycarbonyl)methanides 263, but exclusively the corresponding carbene dimer upon heating. In contrast, only 2-thienylmalonate (36 %) and carbene dimer were obtained upon heating the reactants for 8 days in the presence of Cul P(OEt)3. The Rh(II)-promoted ylide formation... 

It is now nearly 40 years since the introduction by Monsanto of a rhodium-catalysed process for the production of acetic acid by carbonylation of methanol [1]. The so-called Monsanto process became the dominant method for manufacture of acetic acid and is one of the most successful examples of the commercial application of homogeneous catalysis. The rhodium-catalysed process was preceded by a cobalt-based system developed by BASF [2,3], which suffered from significantly lower selectivity and the necessity for much harsher conditions of temperature and pressure. Although the rhodium-catalysed system has much better activity and selectivity, the search has continued in recent years for new catalysts which improve efficiency even further. The strategies employed have involved either modifications to the rhodium-based system or the replacement of rhodium by another metal, in particular iridium. This chapter will describe some of the important recent advances in both rhodium- and iridium-catalysed methanol carbonylation. Particular emphasis will be placed on the fundamental organometallic chemistry and mechanistic understanding of these processes. 

Methanol process. BASF introduced high-pressure technology way back in I960 to make acetic acid out of methanol and carbon monoxide instead of ethylene. Monsanto subsequently improved the process by catalysis, using an iodide-promoted rhodium catalyst. This permits operations at much lower pressures and temperatures. The methanol and carbon monoxide, of course, come from a synthesis gas plant. 

The reaction of a thiocarbonyl and a-oxodiazo compound that leads to 1,3-oxathioles has been rationalized by a 1,5-dipolar electrocyclization reaction (178). It was suggested that an intermediate thiocarbonyl yhde bearing a C=0 function at the a-position (extended dipole) was first formed. Due to the low reactivity of a-oxodiazo compounds, these reactions were carried out at elevated temperatures or in the presence of rhodium acetate as the catalyst. In some cases, catalysis by LiC104 was also reported (77-80). 

The reaction of l- -butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIC) with sodium tet-rafluoroborate or sodium hexafluorophosphate produced the room temperature-, air-and water-stable molten salts (BMr)(BF4 ) and (BMTXPFg ), respectively in almost quantitative yield. The rhodium complexes RhCKPPhjls and (Rh(cod)2)(BF4 ) are completely soluble in these ionic liquids and they are able to catalyze the hydrogenation of cyclohexene at 10 atm and 25°C in a typical two-phase catalysis with turnovers up to 6000 (see fig. 6.10). 

Several differences between the cobalt- and rhodium-catalyzed processes are noteworthy with regard to mechanism. Although there is a strong dependence in the cobalt system of the ethylene glycol/methanol ratio on temperature, CO partial pressure, and H2 partial pressure, these dependences are much lower for the rhodium catalyst. Details of the product-forming steps are therefore perhaps quite different in the two systems. It is postulated for the cobalt system that the same catalyst produces all of the primary products, but there seems to be no indication of such behavior for the rhodium system. Indeed, the multiplicity of rhodium species possibly present during catalysis and the complex dependence on promoters make it... 

A few years ago, a new class of ligands namely the sulfonated phosphites (for examples see Table 7, 132, 133) was described.283 287 They show remarkable stabilities in water compared to conventional phosphites such as P(OPh)3 and rhodium catalysts modified with 132 exhibited much higher catalytic activities in the hydroformylation of 1-tetradecene than conventional Rh/P(OPh)3 or Ph/PPh3 catalysts even at lower reaction temperatures.285,286 Sulfonated phosphite ligands may play a role in the emerging field of biphasic catalysis in ionic liquids15 22 or in combination with membrane separation of the metal complexes of these bulky ligands. 

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