ACTIVITY AND SELECTIVITY OF HOMOGENEOUS ZIEGLER-TYPE HYDROGENATION CATALYSTS .I.

Various aspects of aluminumalkyl reduced hydrocarbon soluble non-noble metal hydrogenation catalysts were investigated. Activity comparisons were made between soluble iron, cobalt, and nickel catalysts. The subsequent more detailed studies were carried out with the cobalt system which proved to be the most active one. It was found that modification of the catalyst by stoichiometric amounts of Lewis base is the best technique to obtain highest activities and reproducibility under practical conditions. Further on it could be shown that contrary to previous reports the catalyst can be used in weakly acidic solvents. With regard to selectivity in olefin hydrogenation it could be established that terminal olefins are substantially faster hydrogenated than internal ones. The possibility of double bond isomerization with these catalysts is briefly discussed. © 1969.