From alkenes to alcohols by cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation-reduction

The cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation of alkenes in the presence of a range of novel cyclic phosphine ligands was investigated. The effect of various parameters such as solvents, additives, cobalt/phosphine ratio, CO/H2 (1:2), and nature of the alkenes was examined. The results revealed that both terminal and internal alkenes are hydroformylated in high yields to give mainly linear products at moderate temperature and syn gas pressure. The linearity ranges from 43 to 85%, with Lim-10 giving the highest proportion of linear product.