PHYS 713 |
| Hydroformylation reaction is an industrially attractive chemical process. In this reaction, an alkene is reacted with synthesis gas (CO/H2) to form an aldehyde (current worldwide production of aldehydes >7 million tons/year). Homogeneous rhodium catalysts, which are selective and highly active, are used to produce lower aldehydes. The Distillation is used to separate the catalyst from the lower chain aldehydes (Cn ≤4). However, distillation can not be performed for higher olefins due to their higher boiling points making distillation impossible. Therefore, rhodium catalysts cannot be separated and inefficient cobalt catalysts are used instead. Heterogenous catalysis is one of the many ways to separate catalysts from the reaction mixture for recycling of expensive catalysts. In this work, we attach several phosphine and phosphite ligands to carbon naotube surfaces through covalent linkages and after complexing with Rhodium precursors, carbon nanotube supported Rhodium complexes are obtained. Other than making the Rh-catalysts heterogeneous, the large surface area of the carbon nanotube supported Rhodium catalysts are important in making catalysts more accessible for the reaction. Rhodium complexes attached to carbon nanotubes will be evaluated for their ability to undergo hydroformylation reaction. Reaction rate, yield, and selectivity will be tested. |
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Nanostructured Materials
1:20 PM-5:00 PM, Thursday, April 10, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 338, Oral
Division of Physical Chemistry |