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Cite this: Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 11742
www.rsc.org/dalton PAPER
Selective hydroformylation-hydrogenation tandem reaction of isoprene to
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3-methylpentanal
Arno Behr,* Sebastian Reyer and Nils Tenhumberg
Received 7th July 2011, Accepted 24th August 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1dt11292a
The hydroformylation of isoprene catalysed by rhodium phosphine complexes usually yields a broad
mixture of the monoaldehydes, the isomeric methylpentenals, as well as the dialdehyde
3-methyl-1,6-hexandial. Under usual reaction conditions the products of a consecutive hydrogenation
are only formed as minor by-products. Surprisingly we discovered now a selective auto-tandem reaction
consisting of a hydroformylation and a hydrogenation step if a rhodium complex with the chelate ligand
bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane is used as catalyst. If branched aromatic solvents like cumene are
applied the conversion of isoprene is nearly quantitatively and the yield of the tandem product
3-methylpentanal amounts to 85%.
1 Introduction prene were used as conjugated dienes, but the reaction often results
in a complex mixture of unsaturated and saturated, linear and
Hydroformylation of alkenes leads to aldehydes which are im- branched monoaldehydes and dialdehydes. Possible side reactions
portant intermediates in organic synthesis because of their high are the hydrogenation of the dienes and the unsaturated aldehydes
reactivity and versatile reactions. Aldehydes are used for the and the isomerisation of the unsaturated aldehydes. Fell et al.12
production of alcohols, carboxylic acids and amines, for the showed that for the rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation an excess
synthesis of plasticizers, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and as (Rh : L = 1 : 30) of a tertiary phosphine is necessary to inhibit the
flavors.1 The worldwide production of aldehydes is currently more hydrogenation of the diene and the isomerisation of unsaturated
than 8.0 ¥ 106 t/a.2 aldehydes and to enhance the yield of dialdehydes. In 2007, dos
In comparison to the hydroformylation of alkenes the hy- Santos et al.19,20 reported the hydroformylation of isoprene yielding
droformylation of dienes is fundamentally much more difficult. four unsaturated aldehydes.
Depending on the reaction conditions a broad mixture of saturated Also the asymmetric hydroformylation of conjugated dienes
and unsaturated monoaldehydes as well as of dialdehydes is with (R,S)-BINAPHOS as chiral ligand was reported by Horiuchi
observed. et al.21,22 and with (-)-DIOP by Botteghi et al.23
Especially the hydroformylation of 1,3-dienes is of high interest. Isoprene is a very interesting starting compound, because it
For example a multistage process for the production of adipic is an easily accessible petrochemical, which is obtained as a by-
dialdehyde via hydroformylation of 1,3-butadiene has been re- product in the steamcracking of naphtha to short-chained alkenes.
ported by Packet.3 Conjugated dienes, however, form stable h3 - Today most of the isoprene is used for the production of the
allyl-complexes with the catalyst metal, which may inhibit the different type’s polyisoprene. Besides, isoprene could be a cheap
reaction. Thus hydroformylation of conjugated dienes usually base chemical for the production of functional low molecular
occurs much slower than the reaction of alkenes.4 Most notable is compounds.
the considerable effect of the substrate on the regioselectivity of One interesting low molecular target molecule is the 3-
the reaction: The hydroformylation of conjugated dienes occurs methylpentanal which is so far produced in industry by hydro-
mostly via a formal 1,4-addition and only in a minor part via formylation of methylbutenes thus yielding complex mixtures of
1,2-addition. The 1,4-addition was verified by Bertozzi et al.5 via methylpentanals which have to be separated with great technical
isotope experiments. Also a density functional study by Beller et effort.24–26 3-Methylpentanal is an odorous substance with an
al.6 showed that the 1,4-addition is favored to the 1,2-addition. intensive green and fresh smell.27 It serves, too, as a starting
Several publications report the hydroformylation of conjugated material for a number of intermediates, e.g. in the synthesis of
dienes proceeding under severe reaction conditions (100–175 ◦ C, tranquilizers.24
200–300 bar).5,7–18 Mainly 1,3-butadiene, 1,3-pentadiene and iso- In the present contribution, we report the selective
hydroformylation-hydrogenation tandem reaction of isoprene to
Lehrstuhl für Technische Chemie A, Technische Universität Dortmund, 3-methylpentanal with special emphasis on the evaluation of the
Emil-Figge Str. 66, Germany. E-mail: behr@bci.tu-dortmund.de; Fax: +49
0231/755-2311; Tel: +49 231/755-2310 phosphine ligands, the solvents and the global kinetics.
11742 | Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 11742–11747 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011
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Products and reaction mechanism In the hydroformylation of isoprene the influence of ligands
was investigated especially in view of the regioselectivity of the
The products of the hydroformylation of isoprene 1 are shown reaction. A new reactor concept with a small volume (20 ml)
in Fig. 1. The major products are the E- and Z-3-methyl-3- and small amounts of catalyst and substrate was used to perform
pentenals 2a and 2b, formed via a formal 1,4-hydroformylation. a fast and cost-effective ligand screening.28 High conversions of
The conjugated E- and Z-3-methyl-2-pentenals 3a and 3b are isoprene (X > 86%) were observed when using arylphosphines as
formed only in lower yields. These unsaturated aldehydes 2 and 3 ligands (Table 1). If toluene was used as the solvent the yield
can be further hydroformylated to a dialdehyde or hydrogenated of the saturated aldehyde 6 could not be determined because
to 3-methylpentanal 6. The 1,2-addition product of the hydro- of peak overlapping in GC. Therefore in later reactions 1,2,4-
formylation of isoprene, the 4-methyl-4-pentenal 4, is formed as trimethylbenzene (TMB) or cumene were used as solvents.
well which is partially further hydroformylated to 3-methyl-1,6- As expected no conversion of isoprene was observed when
hexandial 5. Further side products in very low yields are the 3- the reaction was carried out without any ligand (entry 1). With
methylpentanol 7 and the 4-methylpentanal 8 which are formed triphenylphosphine (entry 3) as the ligand and trimethylbenzene
by the hydrogenation of the aldehydes 6 and 4, respectively. as the solvent a high conversion (99%) was achieved as already
2-Methyl-1-butene, 2-methyl-2-butene and 2-methylbutane are described by dos Santos et al.19 In our first investigations (entries
formed only in traces by direct hydrogenation of the isoprene 2–6) the major products proved to be the E- and the Z-3-methyl-3-
molecule. pentenals 2a and 2b, whereas the formation of the a,b unsaturated
The reaction mechanism of the hydroformylation of isoprene aldehydes 3a and 3b was only observed in low yields.
was proposed by dos Santos et al.19 (Fig. 2). The rhodium catalyst The selectivity to product 4 increased by using diphosphines
reacts mainly with the less substituted C–C double bond of with a high bite angle (b n ). The best n-selectivity’s to 4 (entries
isoprene. n-Alkyl-(D) and iso-alkyl-(A) complexes are formed by 4–6) were observed when using Xantphos (b n = 111◦ ), DPEphos
addition of rhodium hydride to isoprene 1. h1 /h3 -rearrangement (b n = 102◦ ) and diphenylphosphinobutane (DPPB) (b n = 98◦ ) as
of A leads to complex C and to a formal 1,4-addition of the ligands (Fig. 3).
metal hydride to isoprene (Route II). Reaction of C with CO Surprisingly in contrast to all other ligands
and H2 forms the b,g-unsaturated aldehydes 2a and 2b and the bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (DPPE) formed 3-methylpentanal
a,b-unsaturated aldehydes 3a and 3b. Alternatively, 4-methyl-4- 6 as a major product with high yield (entry 7, 69%). DPPE
pentenal 4 is formed by n-hydroformylation via intermediate D obviously favours the hydrogenation of the unsaturated aldehydes
(Route I). 2 and 3 to the saturated aldehyde 6. Furthermore the small bite
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Yield [%]
Entry Ligand bn Solvent X [%] 2a 2b 3a 3b 4 5 6
angle of DPPE (b n = 84◦ ) favours the formation of the formal samples could be drawn during the reaction time of 400 min.
1,4-hydroformylation products. For comparison the kinetic plot of the hydroformylation with the
Performing the reaction with DPPE as ligand in a 300 ml unselective catalyst rhodium/PPh3 in the solvent trimethylbenzene
stainless steel reactor with a higher pressure of 50 bar of CO/H2 (TMB) is shown in Fig. 4.
instead of 20 bar the yield of aldehyde 6 could be increased to 75% At the beginning of the reaction the conversion of isoprene and
(entry 8), with cumene as the solvent the yield of aldehyde 6 could the yield of aldehydes 2 and 4 rise up quickly. A nearly quantitative
even be increased up to 85% (entry 9). conversion of isoprene is achieved after a reaction time of only 120
min, when the aldehydes 2 and 4 reach an optimum yield.
The three aldehydes 2a, 2b and 4 are the primary products
Kinetic investigations
in this hydroformylation reaction, whereas the a,b-unsaturated
To understand why in the hydroformylation of isoprene with a aldehydes 3a, 3b are only formed in negligible amounts and
rhodium/DPPE catalyst the 3-methylpentanal 6 is formed in high are therefore not shown in the kinetic plot. After isoprene has
yields, and why this catalyst is totally different in contrast to almost completely reacted the formation of derivative products
others, the reaction scope of the hydroformylation of isoprene starts. The yield of the monoaldehyde 4 decreases with continuous
was investigated in detail with the help of conversion-time- reaction time due to the transformation of the aldehyde 4 into the
plots. Reactions were carried out in a pressure reactor where dialdehyde 5, thus increasing the yield of dialdehyde 5 up to 18%.
11744 | Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 11742–11747 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011
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via the allyl-acyl-complex V. Addition of H2 to VI leads to the Table 2 Starting compounds and typical reaction conditions for the
a,b-unsaturated aldehydes 3, which were fast hydrogenated to the hydroformylation-hydrogenation tandem reaction of isoprene using the
catalyst system rhodium/DPPE
saturated aldehyde 6.
To our knowledge this selective hydroformylation- Amount/ Mass/
hydrogenation tandem reaction of isoprene to 3-methylpentanal 6 Compounds mmol g Reaction conditions
with the catalytic system rhodium/DPPE has not been described
Isoprene 30.00 2.43 Temperature 100 ◦ C
before. Our catalytic study and kinetic investigations clearly show
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11746 | Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 11742–11747 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011
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C-CH 3 ), 2.20 (q, 2H, CH 2 -CH3 ), 5.85 (d, 1H, CH-C(O)H), 9.97 6 M. Beller, Y. W. Li, C. F. Huo and H. Jiao, Organometallics, 2005, 24,
(d, 1H, C(O)H); m/z 98 (M+, 82%), 83 (11), 79 (6), 69 (37), 67 3634–3643.
7 Eur. Pat., EP 0033554 A2, 1981.
(12), 65 (5), 63 (4), 57 (13), 55 (70), 53 (22), 51 (15), 50 (11), 41 8 P. W. N. M. van Leeuwen and C. F. Roobeck, J. Mol. Catal., 1985, 31,
(100), 39 (62). 345–353.
3-Methylhexan-1,6-dial 5 was identified by comparison of the 9 Y. Ohgomori, N. Suzuki and N. Sumitani, J. Mol. Catal. A: Chem.,
retention time in the gas chromatogram with a synthesized sample. 1998, 133, 289–291.
10 B. Fell and H. Bahrmann, J. Mol. Catal., 1977, 2, 211–218.
It was synthesized from 4-methylcyclohexene, which was first
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This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 11742–11747 | 11747