| abstract |
A process for the hydroformylation of ethylene, with a transition metal, e.g., rhodium, catalyst promoted with a bidentate ligand of Formula I, II or III in which each R 1 -R 24 are independently a hydrogen, a hydrocarbyl group, an aromatic ring, a heteroaromatic ring or a halogen atom, or a heterocarbyl group. X 1 is CH 2 or O, while X 2 is O or C(R 25 ) 2 , where each R 25 may be the same or different and is a hydrogen, a cycloaliphatic group, an aromatic ring, a heteroaromatic ring or a halogen atom, or a heterocarbyl group, wherein two R 25 groups may combine in a fused ring, and Y is a pyrrole group bound via the nitrogen atom to phosphorus, wherein each pyrrole group may bear multiple substituents selected from among the groups alkyl, alkoxy, acyl, carboxyl, carboxylate, cyano, -SO 3 H, sulfonate, amino, trifluoromethyl and halogen. |