Is the hydroformylation reaction reversible?

Abstract

Treatment of 3,3-diphenyl-1-propanol under cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation conditions gives the corresponding aldehyde as the principal product but a small quantity of 1,1-diphenylethylene is also formed. Similarly 3-phenyl-1-propanol gives a small quantity of styrene. These arylethylenes are probably generated via the radical dehydrogenation to the corresponding aldehydes followed by decarbonylation and dehydrogenation, a reaction pathway that constitutes the reverse of the hydroformylation reaction. Attempts to rearrange isobutyraldehyde to the straight chain isomer (and the reverse) did not yield significant quantities of the rearranged product. The aldehydes obtained by cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation apparently undergo the reverse reaction but at such a slow rate that the back reaction can usually be neglected.