Reverse-flow adsorption for process-integrated recycling of homogeneous transition-metal catalysts.

Supramolecular strategies, based on hydrogen bonds and ionic interactions, were investigated as tools for the recovery and recycling of homogeneous transition-metal catalysts by using reverse-flow adsorption (RFA) technology. The association (in solution) and adsorption (on support) of new functionalized host materials and phosphine guest ligands, functionalized with the complementary binding motifs, were fine-tuned for the application of these materials in a RFA reactor. The RFA technology for process-integrated recycling of homogeneous catalysts using these tailor-made phosphine ligands and silica-supported host materials resulted in a stable, semicontinuous catalytic system.

Ordered mesoporous materials as solid supports for rhodium-diphosphine catalysts with remarkable hydroformylation activity.

A rhodium-diphosphine complex based on Xantphos-type ligands was anchored on mesoporous silica SBA-15, and the material showed remarkably high catalytic activity in the hydroformylation of 1-octene, even exceeding its homogeneous analogue under certain conditions.