Aqueous biphasic hydroformylation of higher alkenes and highly efficient catalyst recycling in the presence of a polar low boiling solvent

The hydroformylation of higher alkenes under aqueous biphasic reaction conditions with a rhodium catalyst derived from BISBIS (sodium salt of sulfonated 2,2′-bis (diphenylphosphinomethyl)-1,1′-biphenyl) in the presence of a polar low boiling point solvent was studied. The addition of ethanol greatly accelerated hydroformylation, such that the turnover frequency (defined as the moles of converted alkene per mole of Rh per hour) and the selectivity for linear aldehyde were up to 2095 h−1 and 99 %, respectively. The catalytic system could be recycled for at least five runs without significant loss of activity in the aqueous biphasic hydroformylation of 1-octene; the rhodium content leaching in product mixtures detected by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy was < 0.1 ppm.