MECHANISTIC ASPECTS OF A HOMOGENEOUS CARBON MONOXIDE HYDROGENATION CATALYST - Ir4(CO)12 IN MOLTEN AlCl3-NaCl.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00350a029

The ″homogeneous Fischer-Tropsch catalysis″ first described by Muetterties et al. was kinetically examined in both a single-pass flow reactor and a continuous recycle apparatus. Flow rate studies and the effect of added chloromethane on the active catalytic system implicate chloromethane (or methanol) as a primary reaction intermediate. Heterogeneous iridium-on-alumina catalysts show different behavior under these reaction conditions, whereas a mononuclear precatalyst, IrCl(CO)//3, shows similar chemistry. It is concluded that this reaction involves the homogeneous reduction of CO to chloromethane, followed by homologation and/or hydrogenation reactions leading to the hydrocarbon products.