Highly efficient catalytic system for the formation of dialdehydes from dicyclopentadiene hydroformylation

• Rh-catalyzed hydroformylation of dicyclopentadiene was investigated.
• The properties of ligand affected markedly the selectivity of dialdehyde.
• The cooperative effect of mixed ligands increased the selectivity of dialdehyde.
• Up to 95.0% of dialdehyde selectivity was obtained in the presence of mixed ligand.

Rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of dicyclopentadiene using different kinds of mono- and bidentate phosphorus ligands was studied. The results demonstrated that the electronic and steric properties of ligand could influence the catalytic activity and the selectivity towards dialdehyde products. High conversion (99.9%) and good selectivity (95.0%) to dialdehydes were achieved under optimized reaction conditions in the presence of Rh/mixed mono- and bidentate phosphorus ligand complex (bidentate ligand: 2,2′-bis(dipyrrolylphosphinooxy)-1,1′-(±)-biphenyl (L1) and monodentate ligand: tri-(4-methoxylphenyl)phosphine (L8) (L1/L8 molar ratio 1/2)), which offers an easy approach to prepare dialdehydes from hydroformylation of cyclopentadiene under mild conditions (5.0 MPa, 100 °C).

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