Recent advances in catalyst immobilization using supercritical carbon dioxide

Abstract

Homogeneous organometallic catalysts have a great potential for the development of sustainable synthetic processes. There is, however, an urgent need for the development of new techniques to separate products and catalysts efficiently, allowing for recycling and reuse of the precious catalyst. The unique solvent properties of supercritical carbon dioxide offer new approaches for the immobilization of organometallic catalysts, many of which are suitable for efficient continuous-flow operation. Recent research in this field tries to combine the molecular nature of organometallic catalysts with the reaction-engineering aspect of multi-phase catalysis.