Carbonylation Reactions in Aqueous or Mixed Solvent Systems

In recent years much interest has been focused on carbonylation reactions in aqueous or biphasic systems catalysed by platinum group metals complexes. This is due to the reactivity of platinum group metals ions as catalysts designed to activate small molecules. When used in C, chemistry a variety of reactions can be catalysed by these complexes, in particular by ruthenium complexes. Ruthenium has several oxidation states and co-ordination numbers, and is relatively cheap. Additionally, ruthenium catalysts are stable and their reaction conditions are usually mild, making them excellent for homogeneous catalysis. Various reactions of ruthenium carbonyl complexes and ruthenium saloph dichloride complexes with carbon monoxide have been investigated in this laboratory, and are considered here.