Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation

Tomohiko Inoue

Tomoyuki Mori

Masaki Takai

Kazuyuki Yokoyama

A process for producing a rhodium complex solution, which comprises contacting an aqueous solution of a water-soluble rhodium compound and an organic solvent solution of a water-insoluble tertiary organic phosphorus compound, preferably in the presence of a C.sub.2-8 carboxylic acid, in a gas atmosphere containing carbon monoxide, followed by two phase separation, and recovering an organic solvent phase containing a rhodium-tertiary organic phosphorus compound complex. As the above aqueous solution of a rhodium compound, an aqueous solution having rhodium extracted into an aqueous phase from a waste catalyst liquid separated from a hydroformylation reaction step by oxidation treatment in the presence of a recovery accelerator such as a carboxylic acid, an amine, ammonia or an inorganic acid, is used, whereby recycling of rhodium represented by hydroformylation reaction/recovery of the catalyst/regeneration of the catalyst, is made possible, and a cumbersome step of preparing a complex catalyst from an inorganic salt or the like, or a step of preparing a soluble salt from a metal or oxide by combustion in water of the recovered catalyst, can be omitted.

Process for preparing a rhodium complex solution and process for

A method for producing aldehydes, which comprises reacting an olefinic unsaturated compound with carbon monoxide and hydrogen for hydroformylation in the presence of a rhodium-phosphite complex catalyst to obtain a reaction product solution containing the rhodium-phosphite complex catalyst and an aldehyde product, and separating from the reaction product solution at least one component selected from the group consisting of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, an unreacted olefinic unsaturated compound, the aldehyde product, a solvent, a medium-boiling by-product and a high-boiling by-product by a separating operation, wherein at least one separating operation is carried out substantially in the absence of water, and the temperature and the residence time in the separating operation are selected to be within such ranges that value P calculated from the following formula (1) would be at most 1:

Method for producing aldehydes

A method for producing aldehydes, which comprises reacting an olefinic unsaturated compound with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a liquid phase in the presence of a Group 8 metal-phosphite complex catalyst, wherein a reaction product solution containing the complex catalyst and a high boiling by-product, obtained by the reaction, is intimately contacted with an extraction solution containing a polar solvent, to have either the complex catalyst or the high boiling by-product extracted selectively, followed by phase separation to separate a layer of the extraction solution from a layer of the reaction product solution.

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Okayama, Japan

Tomohiko Inoue