Carbonylation

In chemistry, carbonylation refers to reactions that introduce carbon monoxide (CO) into organic and inorganic substrates.

Carbon monoxide is abundantly available and conveniently reactive, so it is widely used as a reactant in industrial chemistry.

Hydroformylation entails the addition of both carbon monoxide and hydrogen to unsaturated organic compounds, usually alkenes.

A common transformation involves the conversion of aldehydes to alkanes, usually catalyzed by metal complexes:[5] Few catalysts are highly active or exhibit broad scope.

This method is used to produce propionic acid from ethylene using nickel carbonyl as the catalyst:[2] The above reaction is also referred to as hydroxycarbonylation, in which case hydrocarboxylation refers to the same net converstion but using carbon dioxide in place of CO and H2 in place of water:[8] Acrylic acid was once mainly prepared by the hydrocarboxylation of acetylene.

The industrial synthesis of glycolic acid is achieved in this way:[12] The conversion of isobutene to pivalic acid is also illustrative: Alkyl, benzyl, vinyl, aryl, and allyl halides can also be carbonylated in the presence carbon monoxide and suitable catalysts such as manganese, iron, or nickel powders.