A Novel Approach for Immobilisation of Platinum Group Metal Complex Catalysts

Abstract

The technique known as ‘ossification’ has emerged as one of the most promising approaches for immobilisation of metal complexes, generating highly selective, stable and recyclable heterogeneous counterparts of homogeneous catalysts. ‘Ossification’ involves modifying the ligand(s) in a metal complex catalyst to achieve inherently insoluble forms of the metal complexes, without destroying the configuration responsible for their catalytic properties. The ossified catalysts have been demonstrated to show high catalytic activity and selectivity for a number of industrially important reaction classes such as palladium-catalysed carbonylation and Suzuki coupling and rhodium-catalysed hydroformylation. The characterisation of these catalysts has also shown that the key features of their homogeneous metal complex analogues are retained on immobilisation. The approach is very useful for the design and development of immobilised catalysts with specific features and functionality for various applications. It is also advantageous for catalyst–product separation. This article reviews the recent work on ossification involving platinum group metal complex catalysts in our research group.