Hetero-Bimetallic Rhodium-Molybdenum Homogeneous Hydroformylation. the Most Recent Example of Catalytic Binuclear Elimination (CBER)

The reaction of two mononuclear organometallic complexes, giving an organic product and a dinuclear complex is binuclear elimination. When the dinuclear complex undergoes further reaction to give the original mononuclear organometallic complexes, the system represents a catalytic binuclear elimination reaction (CBER). Thus a CBER is a system composed of both mononuclear and dinuclear intermediates, in one-and-the-same catalytic mechanism. CBER was first reported in 2003, since then, a number of systems have been studied. In the present contribution, a hetero-bimetallic rhodium-molybdenum homogeneous hydroformylation is reported. In situ spectroscopic measurements and kinetics are discussed in detail. Hetero-bimetallic homogeneous catalysis is attractive from a metal-utilization viewpoint, since the kinetics are bilinear in the metals used. Thus, as in the present case, the activity of a precious metal system can be enhanced considerably by the use of a second base metal [1].

[1] C Li, S Cheng, M Tjahjono, M Schreyer, and M Garland J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 4589–4599.