Johnson Matthey Public Limited Company

David E Grove

Robert G Tyson

David F Booker

Phillip J Cotterill

A process for recovering re-usable triarylphosphine (e.g. triphenylphosphine) from rhodium catalyst residues poisoned by the presence of alkyldiarylphosphine (e.g. n-propyldiphenylphosphine) such as are obtained as spent catalyst residues from the hydroformylation of olefins. The process comprises subjecting the poisoned residues to evaporative separation under reduced pressure to separate a vapor comprising triarylphosphine from the rhodium and then mixing the condensed vapor with polar solvent and obtaining the triarylphosphine as a crystalline precipitate from the solvent. The crystalline phosphine is sufficiently free of poisons to be re-usable as a catalyst component in a hydroformylation process.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

David E Grove