Palladium–catalysed methoxycarbonylation of ethene with bidentate diphosphine ligands : a density functional theory study
Abstract
Catalytic methoxycarbonylation of ethene with a bidentate tertiary phosphine (DTBPX) and palladium has been explored at the B3PW91-D3/PCM level of density functional theory. Three different pathways for formation of methyl propanoate (MePro) have been studied, namely carbomethoxy (A), ketene (B) and hydride-hydroxyalkylpalladium pathways (C), the latter of which is favoured because it has the lowest overall kinetic barrier. After intermolecular methanolysis, a hydroxyalkylpalladium complex has been characterised on pathway C, which eventually leads to the low overall barrier to produce MePro. The possibility of copolymerisation leading to oligo-/polymers has also been considered. With a computed selectivity of >99% towards the formation of MePro and a reasonably low overall kinetic barrier of 23.0 kcal mol-1, pathway C appears to be the most plausible one. Consistent with experimental data, the overall barrier increases to 30.1 kcal mol-1 for a less bulky bidentate phosphine
Citation
Ahmad , S , Crawford , L E & Buehl , M 2020 , ' Palladium–catalysed methoxycarbonylation of ethene with bidentate diphosphine ligands : a density functional theory study ' , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , vol. Advance article . https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CP04454G
Publication
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1463-9076Type
Journal item
Rights
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Open Access article. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.
Description
Authors thank EaStCHEM and the School of Chemistry for support.Collections
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