No abstract

Rh nanoparticles were investigated as a catalyst for hydroformylation of olefins in thermoregulated ionic liquid/organic biphasic systems composed of an ionic liquid, namely [CH 3 (OCH 2 CH 2 ) 16 N + Et 3 ][CH 3 SO 3 − ] (IL PEG750 ), and an organic solvent. This enables not only a homogeneous reaction but also easy biphasic separation. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the conversion of 1-octene and yield of aldehyde were 99% and 91%, respectively. The catalyst was easily separated from the product by phase separation and used eight times without evident loss of activity.

A thermoregulated ionic liquid and organic biphasic system composed of quaternary ammonium-based ionic liquid N,N-dimethyl-N-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl)-N-(2-(2-octyloxyethoxy)ethyl) ammonium methanesulfonate (1) and cyclohexane was first applied for the Rh nanoparticle catalyzed hydroformylation of olefins, which allows for not only a highly efficient homogeneous catalytic reaction, but also an easy separation and reuse of catalyst. Under the optimized conditions, various olefins could be converted completely with C98 % selectivity for aldehydes. After reaction, the Rh nanoparticle catalyst could be recovered by simple phase separation and reused for five times without evident loss of activity.