Highly selective biphasic telomerization of butadiene with glycols: Scope and limitations

Highly selective telomerization reactions of a number of short-chain glycol nucleophiles with 1,3-butadiene have been achieved in aqueous biphasic systems employing the water-soluble catalyst system Pd(acac)(2)/TPPTS. For all substrates the selectivity for the obtained monotelomers 5-7 reached greater than or equal to95% whereas butadiene dimers 3, octadienols 4 and ditelomers like 2 were produced only in trace amounts. The order of reactivity is ethylene glyco-1 > > 1,3-propylene glycol,a glycerol > 1,4-butylene glycol, which is in agreement with generally observed trends. The scope and limitations of these reactions are discussed in terms of obtained yields and achievable catalyst productivities (total turnover numbers).