A composition, comprising: a metal carbonyl anion; and a cation ionically bonded to the metal carbonyl anion. The cation includes a ligand and a metal centered compound. The ligand includes two residues of 3,5-substituted salicylaldehydes connected by an hydrocarbyl-diimine bridge that includes a nitrogen atom contacted with a carbon of an aldehyde residue at each of the two residues of the 3,5-substituted salicylaldehydes. Each of the residues of the 3,5-substituted salicylaldehydes are independently substituted at one or both of a 3 position and a 5 position by a hydrocarbyl group containing at least 5 carbons. The metal coordinated with the ligand at each hydroxyl residue the two residues of the 3,5-substituted salicylaldehydes at a 2 position and at each of the nitrogen atoms of the hydrocarbyl-diimine bridge. The composition includes two polar ligands coordinated with the metal.

A catalytic process for synthesizing an ester compound, and a catalytic process for synthesizing an amide compound, wherein a solid-supported palladium catalyst is used to catalyze an alkoxycarbonylation reaction of an aryl halide to form the ester compound, or to catalyze an aminocarbonylation reaction of an aryl halide to form the amide compound. Various embodiments of each of the processes are also provided.

Processes for producing acetic acid herein generally include contacting methanol and carbon monoxide in the presence of a reaction medium under carbonylation conditions sufficient to form acetic acid, the reaction medium including a carbonylation catalyst selected from rhodium catalysts, iridium catalysts and palladium catalysts; from 1 wt. % to 14 wt. % water; and a plurality of additives, in-situ generated derivatives of the plurality of additives or combinations thereof; the plurality of additives including a first additive including one or more phosphine oxides and a second additive selected from heteropolyacids, metal salts and combinations thereof, the heteropolyacids represented by the formula H.sub.nM.sub.12XO.sub.40, wherein H is hydrogen, M is selected from tungsten and molybdenum, X is selected from phosphorous and silicon and O is oxygen and n is 3 or 4, the metal salts are selected from transition metal salts, lanthanide metal salts and combinations thereof; and recovering acetic acid from the process.

Disclosed is a process for the reductive carbonylation of a low molecular weight alcohol to produce the homologous aldehyde and/or alcohol. The process includes conducting the reaction to produce the aldehyde in the presence of a catalyst complex composed of cobalt, an onium cation and iodide in a ratio of 1:2:4 with a phosphine ligand. A ruthenium co-catalyst is used in the production of the homologous alcohol. The reductive carbonylation reaction does not require an additional iodide promoter and produces a crude reductive carbonylation product substantially free of methyl iodide.

A polymer containing a carboxyl group, a preparation method and an application thereof, a supported catalyst and a preparation method thereof and preparation methods of penem antibiotic intermediate are disclosed. The polymer has high rigidity and hardness, thus the mechanical properties of the polymer is effectively improved. Meanwhile, in the polymer, the carboxyl group is used as a main functional group, and is used as a carrier to prepare, by means of a coordination reaction between the carboxyl group and a heavy metal, a supported metal catalyst which has better connection stability between the metal and the polymer. The above two factors can improve the stability of the supported metal catalyst, such that the catalyst can be recycled without losing the catalytic activity. Meanwhile, loss of a heavy metal active ingredient and production cost can be reduced.

A technological method for synthesizing optically pure L-/D-lactide by using a biogenic guanidine catalysis method. The method of the present invention comprises: by using biogenic guanidine creatinine (CR) as a catalyst and L-/D-lactic acid (90% of mass content) as a raw material, synthesizing optically pure L-/D-lactide by using a reactive reduced pressure distillation catalysis method. The method of the present invention has advantages that the used catalyst is biogenic guanidine creatinine and free of toxicity, metal, and cytotoxicity; the synthesized lactide is high in optical purity (the specific rotation of the L-lactide []25D=276280, and the specific rotation of the D-lactide []25D=280), and does not contain any metal; the amount of the catalyst used in reaction is low, the technological process is simplified (a process for rectifying and purifying a crude lactide product by using a conventional method is avoided); and the technological method is simple and convenient to operate and easy in industrial implementation.

A molecular building block composition can include a metal ion component; and a ligand component including a core including at least one functional group associated with the metal ion component and the core.

Spirocyclic compounds, including chiral spiro diamine, chiral spiro amino naphthol, chiral spiro bis(indole), chiral spiro diaryl diol, chiral spiro diaryl diamine, chiral spiro amino naphthol, chiral spiro diaryl diindole, and chiral spiro phospholane useful as chiral ligands and chiral organocatalysts and methods of preparation and methods of use thereof. Owing to the molecular shape and three-dimensional orientation, the chiral diamine and chiral amino naphthol molecules provide a skeleton for use as ligands and organocatalysts.

The present invention encompasses catalysts for the carbonylation of heterocycles such as ethylene oxide, as well as methods for their use. The catalysts feature Lewis acidic metal complexes having one or more tethered metal-coordinating groups in combination with at least one metal carbonyl species. In preferred embodiments, the inventive catalysts have improved stability when subjected to product separation conditions in continuous ethylene oxide carbonylation processes.

In one aspect, the present invention provides catalysts for the carbonylation of heterocycles. The inventive catalysts feature metal-ligand complexes having cationic functional groups tethered to the ligand, wherein the tethered cationic groups are associated with anionic metal carbonyl species. The invention also provides methods of using the inventive catalysts to affect the ring opening carbonylation of epoxides.