Rhodium(I)- and Palladium(0)-Catalyzed Carbonylation of Triarylbismuthines with Carbon Monoxide via a Possible Oxidative Addition of a Carbon-Bismuth Bond to Rhodium(I) and Palladium(0)

Article abstract of DOI:10.1246/bcsj.68.950

Triarylbismuthines react with carbon monoxide (CO) at atmospheric pressure in acetonitrile at 25 deg C in the presence of a catalytic amount of a rhodium compound such as 2, RhCl3*3H2O, and 2 to give the corresponding diaryl ketones in high yields.If methanol is used as the solvent, methyl benzoates are also produced.When similar reactions are carried out in methanol in the presence of a catalytic amount of palladium(II) acetate together with potassium carbonate in place of the rhodium compound, methyl benzoates are formed as the sole carbonylation products.The oxidative addition of a carbon-bismuth bond to rhodium(I) and palladium(0) is proposed as the key step of these carbonylation reactions.