Microwaves make hydroformylation a rapid and easy process

Hydroformylation of alkenes can be carried out in a few minutes under microwave activation at a relatively low pressure ( 40 psi) using commercially available catalysts and ligands. The 80 mL vial of a Discover microwave oven was connected to a cylinder of CO and H-2, and after filling the reactor at 40 psi, a mixture of an alkene, the Wilkinson catalyst, and XANTPHOS was submitted to microwave irradiation giving, after 4 min, high conversion into the corresponding aldehyde without formation of the isomerized alkene.