One carbon homologation of olefins, halides and alcohols can be accomplished using CO in a highly atom efficent manner. Chemoselectivity is invariably very high. Almost all CO chemistry is performed at higher pressure. DSM has high pressure reactors available for this type of chemistry on sites in the US and Europe.
The most common transformations are:
- Hydroformylation of olefins to the saturated aldehydes
- Carbonylation of alcohols to the acids esters or amides
- Carbonylation of aliphatic or aromatic halides to the acids esters and amides
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Amidocarbonylation of aldehydes in the presence of acetamide to form the N-acetylamido acids in a single step.
A technology that is gaining importance is the metathesis reaction. We have extensive experience with RCM reactions for the formation of heterocycles.
