Dual Catalytic Activity of Palladium Doped with a Rhodium Complex in a One-pot, Four Step Process

The extraction of the two competing reactions from the same catalyst - a composite catalytic-complex@catalytic-metal - is reported. A Wilkinson rhodium based catalyst entrapped within metallic palladium catalyst is shown to perform both hydroformylation and hydrogenation with a ratio that depends on H₂ and CO pressures. Here we demonstrate this special reactivity in a one-pot, four step sequence, which include hydroformylations of phenyl acetylenes, reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline, carbonyl-amine condensations forming imines; and imine reductions.