Enhancing stability via confining Rh–P species in ZIF-8 for hydroformylation of 1-octene

The stability of Rh-based heterogeneous catalysts is a key issue in the hydroformylation of olefins. Confinement of active Rh species has been considered an effective strategy to achieve stable catalysts. In this work, a phosphine ligand was successfully confined in ZIF-8 material and coordinated with Rh metal by a reduction procedure to develop an efficient and stable Rh-based catalyst for hydroformylation of 1-octene. The results indicate that the catalyst reduced at 300 °C under H2 atmosphere exhibits better stability than that with NaBH4 as reductant and undoped P catalyst. Various characterization studies demonstrate that the superior performance is due to the strong interaction between Rh metal and P, which inhibits the leaching of active Rh species. This work reveals an effective strategy for the synthesis of highly stable catalysts for use in the hydroformylation reaction.