Catalyst separation is crucial for industrial processes to minimize the waste streams and to potentially develop catalyst-recycling strategies. Aqueous biphasic catalysis represents one excellent industrial method of ensuring easy recovery of valuable organometallic catalysts. Unfortunately, the low solubility of many useful organic substrates in water hinders the application of this concept on a large scale. Our recent development of Organic-Aqueous Tunable Solvents (OATS) will allow the application of the concepts of aqueous biphasic chemistry to a much wider range of industrially significant processes. This proposal aims to apply the OATS technique to several key industrial hydroformylation reactions. Industrial application of OATS would potentially simplify the recovery and recycle of highly active homogeneous catalysts.
The PI will examine the key factors governing the behavior of catalysts modified by water-soluble ligands to determine the effects on the activity of these catalysts and the ease of their recovery and subsequent recycle. A second aim would address the effects of solvent choice and reaction conditions on these same features. A greater understanding of these factors is paramount to the successful application of this exciting new technology.
