Article: C2+ carboxylic acids by catalytic carbonylation of methanol with rhodium.

There are numerous process schemes leading to the preparation of linear aliphatic carboxylic acids, including the carbonylation of monoolefins' or conjugated dienes,[2] and the oxidation of aldehydes obtained by hydroformylating linear olefins.[3] Now, the authors report a new preparative route to short-chain aliphatic carboxylic acids involving heterogeneous rhodium catalysts[4] whereby the products may optionally be based upon syngas feedstocks alone. The technique involves syngas reaction with methanol in the presence of a suitable rhodium catalyst and an iodide-containing promoter.

[MeOH + [2nH.sub.2] + (n+1)CO-->[Me(CH.sub.2])[.sub.n] [CO.sub. 2 H] + ...

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