Environmentally friendly rhodium(I) model catalysts

dc.contributor.advisorRoodt, Andreas
dc.contributor.advisorVenter, Gertruida Jacoba Susanna
dc.contributor.authorMorerwa, Zanele Gift
dc.date.accessioned2020-02-19T11:16:00Z
dc.date.available2020-02-19T11:16:00Z
dc.date.issued2019-02
dc.description.abstractThe aim of this study was to investigate model rhodium(I) complexes as environmentally friendly water-soluble homogeneous catalysts for processes such as the carbonylation of methanol, a process that is important in industry due to its role in i.e. the production of liquid fuels and bulk chemicals. The flexibility of manipulating tertiary phosphines in terms of bulkiness and Lewis basicity are factors which render them attractive candidates in the modification of square-planar complexes towards applied chemical processes. If the latter are utilized in homogeneous catalytic applications, different fundamental and bench-marking reactions are of importance such as substitution reactions and oxidative addition. A range of 4-(phenylamino)pent-3-en-2-onate (PhonyH) derivatives with various electron withdrawing and donating substituents on the para position on the N-phenyl ring were synthesized and characterised with infrared and NMR spectroscopy. The uncoordinated compounds were then used to synthesis a range of dicarbonyl-[4-(phenylamino)pent-3-en-2onato]-rhodium(I) complexes. Following the synthesis of the dicarbonyl-rhodium(I) complexes, tertiary phosphines, PR3 (PR3 = triphenylphosphine (PPh3) and 1,3,5-triaza-7phosphaadamantane (PTA)) were employed to substitute a CO from the parent complexes, forming carbonyl-[4-(phenylamino)pent-3-en-2-onato]-PR3-rhodium(I) [Rh(N,O-bid)(CO)(PR3)] complexes. Single crystal X-ray crystallographic determinations of the [Rh(4-CH3Phony)(CO)(PPh3)] and [Rh(4-F-Phony)(CO)(PPh3)] complexes were successfully completed and compared with literature. [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PPh3)] crystalized in the triclinic (P1) crystal system, whilst [Rh(4-F-Phony)(CO)(PPh3)] crystalized in the monoclinic space group (P21/c). A preliminary kinetic study of the CO substitution reaction and equilibrium studies were undertaken to evaluate how changes at the rhodium(I) centre could affect the reactivity of the rhodium(I) complex. Similarly, a preliminary kinetic study of the iodomethane oxidative addition to [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PPh3)] and [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PTA)] was undertaken to evaluate the reactivities of these Rh(I) model complexes. Through the substitution kinetic studies it was discovered that a large equilibrium constant (K1) was present favouring the formation of the [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PTA)] as product, but further investigation was identified to clarify some uncertainties due to the presence of other preliminarily identified but unknown species also present. The preliminary kinetic study of the iodomethane oxidative addition showed that the Rh(III) alkyl species which forms from the first product from the [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PTA)] species exhibits a larger equilibrium constant value (K1) than that obtained for the corresponding [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PPh3)], although not that significant. Nevertheless, similar experiments when evaluating the [Rh(4-CH3-Phony)(CO)(PTA)] as reactant confirmed its reactivity similar to the PPh3 analog and hence the potential application for the design of future water-soluble catalyst models.en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Research Foundation (NRF)en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11660/10412
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.rights.holderUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.subjectDissertation (M.Sc. (Chemistry))--University of the Free State, 2019en_ZA
dc.subjectCatalysisen_ZA
dc.subjectGreen chemistryen_ZA
dc.subjectRhodium(I)en_ZA
dc.subjectHomogeneous catalystsen_ZA
dc.subjectXRDen_ZA
dc.subjectSubstitution kineticsen_ZA
dc.subjectOxidative additionen_ZA
dc.titleEnvironmentally friendly rhodium(I) model catalystsen_ZA
dc.typeDissertationen_ZA
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