SolutionsHydroformylation of Olefins
1. Hydroformylation products
Give the products of the hydroformylation (CO, H2, cobalt or rhodium catalyst) of propene, cyclohexene and 2-methylpropene.
- Propene: a mixture of butanal (linear product, major) and 2-methylpropanal.
- Cyclohexene: cyclohexanecarbaldehyde (a single product, because the alkene is symmetrical).
- 2-Methylpropene: almost exclusively 3-methylbutanal; the CHO bonds to the less substituted carbon.
2. Why is it a useful method?
What is special about hydroformylation compared with other methods of preparing aldehydes?
It forms a new C–C bond: the aldehyde has one more carbon than the starting alkene. It also uses very cheap starting materials (alkenes, carbon monoxide and hydrogen), which makes it one of the most important industrial processes in carbonyl chemistry.