Aqueous biphasic hydroformylation of higher olefins catalyzed by rhodium complexes with amphiphilic ligands of sulfonated triphenylphosphine analog

The catalytic performances of rhodium complexes with three new amphiphilic phosphine ligands, bis-(3-sodium sulfonatophenyl)-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-phosphine (3), phenyl-(3-sodium sulfonatophenyl)-(4-tert-butyl-phenyl)-phosphine (4) and bis-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-(3-sodium sulfonatophenyl) phosphine (5), in hydroformylation of 1-hexene, 1-octene and 1-dodecene have been studied. The steric attributes of free ligands are investigated by Tolman's cone angle method through geometric optimizations. The results reveal that the new phosphines are surface-active as the typical surfactants and the corresponding rhodium complexes show significant enhancements in the reaction rate and higher selectivities toward the normal aldehydes in comparison with those obtained by triphenylphosphine trisulfonate ( TPPTS)- and triphenylphosphine disulfonate (TPPDS) rhodium complexes under identical conditions.