Abstract:

The rhodium-phosphine complex catalyst Rh(CO)(acac)(PPh3)(Ⅰ) for 1-hexene hydroformylation was studied under the following reaction conditions: CO/H2=1(mole rate), pressure 1.0 MPa, temperature 25-120℃, by using the pressurized in-situ 1H NMR technique. Experimental results indicated that the formation of a rhodium hydride complex from (Ⅰ) began at room temperature and its amount increased with increasing of reaction temperature. This intermediate complex began to decompose at 100℃ and disapeared completely at 120℃. The intensity change of the proton signal was parallel to catalytical activity in hydroformylation of olefins. Under pure CO pressure the proton signal of Ph-H bond was not observed. There was a 0.2 ppm difference in proton chemical shifts of Rh-H bond under pure H2 pressure and under H2+CO pressure. The results showed that the rhodium-hydride carbonyl complex is the active intermediate in the industrial hydroformylation process.

Key words: Hydroformylation catalyst, Olefin hydroformylation, Active species, in-situ NMR