Tunable synthesis of alcohols and aldehydes by reductive hydroformylation of alkenes over heterogeneous Co catalysts

Hydroformylation of alkenes constitutes a substantial industrial catalytic process. Tunable synthesis of alcohols and aldehydes by hydroformylation is challenging in heterogeneous catalysis. Here, we describe the encapsulation of single-atom Co catalysts in a porous phosphine polymer for the tunable synthesis of alcohols and aldehydes in olefin hydroformylation. With the polymer encapsulated single atom Co2(CO)8@PPh3-1/10 as the catalyst, almost complete conversion of 1-octene and a selectivity to alcohols of 94% at 170°C while aldehydes with 87% yield was obtained at 140°C, and was eco-friendly with a 100% atomic efficiency reaction and in line with principles of 'green chemistry'. Various catalyst characterization methods including XRD, TEM, HADDF-STEM and in situ FT-IR spectroscopy showed that Co species were homogeneously distributed in the pores of PPh3 and the formation of HCo(CO)x as the catalytically active species was successful. This work provides meaningful insights into the development of non-noble metal heterogeneous catalysts for the selective hydroformylation reaction.