Monodentate bulky trinaphthylphosphine as ligand in Rh, Co and Ru catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-hexene

Rhodium, cobalt, and ruthenium complexes of monodentate bulky trinaphthylphosphine ligand, PNp3, have been synthesized and used as catalysts for the hydroformylation of 1-hexene. The catalyst, RhCl(PNp3)3 shows excellent hydroformylation activity as compared to the Co/PNp3 and Ru/PNp3 system. The high conversion (99 %) with high selectivity to aldehydes (97 %) is achieved by RhCl(PNp3)3 catalyst whereas RuCl2(PNp3)3 is more active toward hydrogenation rather than hydroformylation.