Highly Efficient 1-Octene Hydroformylation at Low Syngas Pressure: From Single-Droplet Screening to Continuous Flow Synthesis

We present a reconfigurable flow chemistry strategy for facile transition between accelerated screening and continuous synthesis of linear aldehydes through homogeneous rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of alkenes. The intensified mass and heat transport rates of the utilized membrane-based flow reactor enable access to safe and desirable reaction conditions (i.e., 50 psig syngas pressure) while providing high chemoselectivity and regioselectivity of the produced aldehydes. Additionally, by conducting hydrogen-deuterium scrambling experiments, we propose a reaction mechanism for the highly efficient hydroformylation reaction in flow.