Kinetics and mechanism of hydrogenation of isodecyl aldehydes in the presence of pyridinium tetracarbonylcobaltate as a catalyst precursor

The use of the cobalt carbonyl complex with pyridine as a catalyst precurso r allows isodecyl alcohol to be prepared from isodecyl aldehydes with a goo d yield. It was found that the concentrations of aldehydes, cobalt, hydroge n, and carbon monoxide influence the reaction rate. The hydrogenation mecha nism including catalysis by tetracarbonylcobaltate Co(CO)(4)(-) via an Ad(N ) type addition reaction and catalysis by tetracarbonyl-hydridocobalt HCo(C O)(4) was suggested. A rate equation was derived. The equilibrium constants for quasiequilibrium steps of the mechanism and rate constants of rate-lim iting reaction steps were calculated.