Synthesis of acetic acid and acetic anhydride from methanol carbonylation with polymer supported rhodium catalyst

Novel porous spherules fabricated via crosslinking copolymerization of 2-vinyl pyridine and ethylene glycol diacrylate and the subsequent formation of chelate complex with [Rh(CO)2Cl2]− were reported in this paper. The complex is well swelled in the reaction medium. Advantages of this catalyst lied in the fact that it could rapidly catalyze carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid with high selectivity and directly formed some acetic anhydride under mild conditions (⩾140 °C). In addition, occurrence of water gas shift reaction during the process is hardly observable.