Twenty-Five Years of Homogeneous Catalysis for the Production of Bulk and Fine Chemicals: A Personal Account

A personal account is given of a selection of the research projects the author has been involved in over the past 25 years, aimed at developing production processes for fine chemicals and bulk chemicals using homogeneous catalysis. The focus in fine chemicals has been on asymmetric hydrogenation using monodentate phosphoramidites (MonoPhos), palladium-catalysed C-C bond formation (homeopathic palladium), copper-catalysed amination, nanocatalysis and combinations of enzymes and homogeneous catalysis. Rhodium-catalysed isomerising hydroformylation was developed for a new process for caprolactam based on butadiene and palladium-catalysed methoxycarbonylation was used in a new adipic acid process based on levulinic acid. The use of high throughput experimentation has been crucial in a large part of this research. Collaborations with universities, in particular with the University of Groningen has also played a major role.