Rational Mechanism for Homogeneous Hydrogenation of Carbon Monoxide to Alcohols, Polyols, and Esters

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00391a025

The products derived from synthesis gas conversion by homogeneous catalysis are concluded to be formed via the key intermediate formaldehyde.The intermediacy of formaldehyde is supported by reaction rate studies, comparison reactions of formaldehyde with synthesis gas, and the trapping of formaldehyde and glycolaldehyde intermediates during a reaction as their ethylene glycol acetals.Although the formation of formaldehyde from synthesis gas is themodynamically unfavorable, it is argued that the concentration of formaldehyde permitted by thermodynamics is more than sufficient for a transient intermediate.The overall mechanism incorporates only step that are already well established in the science of homogeneous catalysis.