“Catalysis of Organic Reactions”. Chemical Industries Series, Volumen 62

SCAROS, M.G.; PRUNIER, M.L.

Marcel Dekker Inc.

Lugar: New York; Año: 1994 p. 599

0-8247-9364-1

This book is published by Marcel Dekker Inc. and forms Volume 62 of the Chemical Industries Series. It is a compilation of technical papers and poster synopses presented at the 15th Conference on Catalysis of Organic Reactions, sponsored by the Organic Reaction Catalysis Society. In the Preface, it is stated that this meeting was intended to present and discuss work on catalysis in organic reactions developed by chemists and engineers from chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as from colleges and universities. This volume is organised in the manner that is typical for the Chemical Industries Series: a complete list of the Series volumes; the companies that supported the 15th Conference on Catalysis of Organic Reactions; the contents of the present volume; a list of the 186 authors in alphabetical order with their address; all the papers; and finally a subject index. In total the book contains 69 papers, 28 being authored by professionals from the industry, 32 presented by groups from either colleges or universities, while the others come from mixed academic and industry groups. The works cover a wide background of subjects related to catalysis in organic synthesis such as hydrogenation, asymmetric hydrogenation, oxidation, ammoxidation, acylation, alkylation, hydroformylation, heterogeneous catalysis, zeolites, catalyst design and characterization. The first 7 papers are between 8 and 15 pages each and analyze theoretical topics with concrete applications in catalysis of organic reactions. The process of catalyst selection, development in catalyst synthesis, the influence of the preparation and the reaction conditions on the catalytic selectivity, the importance of this parameter in some specific processes, the catalyst recuperation step, and the optimization of the recovery of precious metals are the subjects developed. These works are presented by professionals from the industry who emphasize the importance of each step for the total cost of the process. The following two papers are presented by groups working at universities and emphasize the need to increase the role of heterogeneous catalysis in organic synthesis. The advantages and disadvantages, as compared with homogeneous catalysis, are reported. These authors consider that the use of solids must be expanded to other reactions in organic synthesis, in addition to the catalytic hydrogenations where these catalysts were first used. After reading the book, one will agree that some developments in this direction have already been achieved. Applications of heterogeneous catalysis in asymmetric hydrogenation, alkylation, oxidation, ammoxidation, oligomerization, acylation, and oxidative hydroxylation reactions, are reported in some papers. By following the publication order, the others papers can be divided in two groups. The first one consists of about 37 papers, each containing 8 to 12 pages, with just a few contributions from industry. The papers of the other group have between 4 and 6 pages, and half of them are presented by academic groups, and the other half are from industry and mixed groups. When looking at the contents, an important role is played by the evaluation of the process and its impact over the environment, and the search for "clean" technologies, which is also imposed by the respective legislations. Novel catalysts which enable an increase in selectivity and a decrease of the production of polluting by-products, are also reported. Emphasis is placed on subjects such as enantioselectivity and its capability to obtain optically pure compounds, and the performance of materials such as Ru-BINAP in the hydrogenation of a,,LLunsaturated aldehydes. Catalysts with Ru, Rh or Ir are most often mentioned in works related to homogeneous catalysis; while Pt, Pcl, Ru or Rh supported over C, AI203 or Si02 and Ni- and Cu-Raney are the most frequently reported in papers on heterogeneous catalysis. Papers related to asymmetric hydrogenations and the possible profits by using heterogeneous catalysis, are also presented. Novel subjects such as the design of drug delivery systems by controlled functionalization of a template polymer, developments in the synthesis of a new potential class of antiarrhythmic agents with few or none of the side (collateral) effects, a new synthesis technique for Raney catalysts, among others, are reported. Some 15 papers, published at the end of the book, are mainly related to zeolitic catalysts, some of them with concrete applications in organic synthesis, and others adequately characterized but the catalytic performance evaluated on hydrocarbon synthesis. FT-IR, NMR and XRD are most frequently employed for catalyst characterization; while atomic absorption, XPS, ammonia-TPD, N2 adsorption, AES, EXAFS, TEM, ICP are being used less often. The presentation of the different papers in the book is adequate and all the papers have a similar organization. In general, the introduction gives a clear idea of the subject. Comparing the experimental sections of the papers, there are considerable differences; some papers give detailed techniques and complete data but others only present few or no data at all. A lot of experimental data and abundant practical examples are provided in the results section; an important characteristic that makes this book an interesting reference source. The discussions are mainly related to the most important conclusions of each work. Practically all the papers have adequate bibliographic references; more than 720 quotations, some of them multiple, and often recent, are given. The drawings, figures, and tables are clear llustrations of the work and show numerous examples and data from industry and academic groups. As far as technical matters are concerned, the last line on page 432 is the same as the first line in page 433, and the absence of the first paragraph beginning on page 438, are the only two mistakes I found, which is minimal for a book of over 600 pages. Only 8 works, out of the 69 presented, are results of work by mixed academic and industrial groups. It is important to coordinate the efforts, needs, experiences, and methodologies of experts from industry and academy. Another point, after reading all the papers, is that characterization of solids should be given more attention. Consequently, the combination of experience from organic synthesis groups with that of heterogeneous catalysis ones could lead to a better comprehension. Finally, I consider that the works published in this book, volume 62 of the Chemical Industries Series, give a good overview of the state-of-the-art in catalysis of organic reactions. The information and the abundant practical examples given, make this book a well-suited reference source.