Rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-octene in microemulsion: comparison with various catalytic systems

In this work, we describe how addition of alkylpolyglycol ether type nonionic surfactant affects the hydroformylation of 1-octene in the presence of phosphine modified rhodium catalyst. Influence of different process parameters such as ligand excess and amount of surfactant on the reaction rate and selectivity were discussed. Direct comparison of microemulsion systems with classic processes was achieved by performing the reactions under comparable homogeneous and biphasic conditions. Thus, the experiments were carried out using catalysts such as unmodified rhodium carbonyl HRh(CO)4 and HRh(CO)(PPh3)3 in homogeneous system, Rh–TPPTS complex in two-phase system and in association with co-solvent.