Kinetic evaluation of the hydroformylation of the post-metathesis product 7-tetradecene using a heterobimetallic rhodium-ferrocenyl Schiff base derived precatalyst

Abstract

Reaction engineering kinetics for the hydroformylation of the post-metathesis product 7-tetradecene using a heterobimetallic rhodium-ferrocenyl Schiff base derived precatalyst was investigated with variation of reaction temperature (85–105 °C), precatalyst loading (0.25–0.52 mM), carbon monoxide partial pressures (20–40 bar) and hydrogen partial pressures (20–40 bar). The experimental product-time distributions for the parallel hydroformylation and isomerization reaction system are well described by four interdependent pseudo first-order differential mole balance equations. The effects of temperature in the Arrhenius equation, precatalyst concentration, carbon monoxide and hydrogen partial pressures have been incorporated into a phenomenological mechanism-based rate equation. The rate of hydroformylation is first order in alkene, carbon monoxide and hydrogen, with fractional dependence in precatalyst concentration. The activation energy for the hydroformylation reaction was calculated to be 62 kJ mol−1, which is comparable to that determined for the commercialized phosphorus-modified catalyst systems.