Born and initially developed in various industrial laboratories, mainly in U.S.A. and Gennany, homogeneous phase catalytic carbon monoxide hydrogenation and alcohols and their derivatives carbonylation and homologation, have generally been considered and reviewed separately in the course of their 40 years history without concern for common aspects in the chemical transfonnations and in catalysis. Thanks to researchers of Japanese companies participating in the National C 1 Chemistry Project (1980-1987) the scientific and technical approaches in this field have been unified and applied in parallel, in the light of some common aspects of the chemical reactions and mechanisms. Now, at a moment when research seems becahned, a general presentation and discussion of the most recent topics might be an useful basis for further development of this chemistry. To delimit and simplify the discussion of the chemical aspects and the nature of the catalysts involved, the present review is limited to reactions employing homogeneous metal complexes for the direct conversion of syngas to oxygenates and to the hydrocarbonylation of these last to homologous derivatives. Since the previous practically contemporary reviews by Dombek [in Adv. Organomet. Chern. (1983)] on CO hydrogenation and by the present authors [in Asp.Homog.Catal.(Reidel Pu.l984)] on alcohol homologation fully cover the literature up to 1982, here we mainly refer to work done after 1982, and consider the cited reviews as covering the historical development of research in the 1940- 1980 period.

Born and initially developed in various industrial laboratories, mainly in U.S.A. and Gennany, homogeneous phase catalytic carbon monoxide hydrogenation and alcohols and their derivatives carbonylation and homologation, have generally been considered and reviewed separately in the course of their 40 years history without concern for common aspects in the chemical transfonnations and in catalysis. Thanks to researchers of Japanese companies participating in the National C 1 Chemistry Project (1980-1987) the scientific and technical approaches in this field have been unified and applied in parallel, in the light of some common aspects of the chemical reactions and mechanisms. Now, at a moment when research seems becahned, a general presentation and discussion of the most recent topics might be an useful basis for further development of this chemistry. To delimit and simplify the discussion of the chemical aspects and the nature of the catalysts involved, the present review is limited to reactions employing homogeneous metal complexes for the direct conversion of syngas to oxygenates and to the hydrocarbonylation of these last to homologous derivatives. Since the previous practically contemporary reviews by Dombek [in Adv. Organomet. Chern. (1983)] on CO hydrogenation and by the present authors [in Asp.Homog.Catal.(Reidel Pu.l984)] on alcohol homologation fully cover the literature up to 1982, here we mainly refer to work done after 1982, and consider the cited reviews as covering the historical development of research in the 1940- 1980 period.

The subject of dioxygen activation and homogeneous catalytic oxidation by metal complexes has been in the focus of attention over the last 20 years. The widespread interest is illustrated by its recurring presence among the sessions and subject areas of important international conferences on various aspects of bioinorganic and coordination chemistry as well as catalysis. The most prominent examples are ICCC, ICBIC, EUROBIC, ISHC, and of course the ADHOC series of meetings focusing on the subject itself. Similarly, the number of original and review papers devoted to various aspects of dioxygen activation are on the rise. This trend is due obviously to the relevance of catalytic oxidation to biological processes such as dioxygen transport, and the action of oxygenase and oxidase enzymes related to metabolism. The structural and functional modeling of metalloenzymes, particularly of those containing iron and copper, by means of low-molecular complexes of iron, copper, ruthenium, cobalt, manganese, etc., have provided a wealth of indirect information helping to understand how the active centers of metalloenzymes may operate. The knowledge gained from the study of metalloenzyme models is also applicable in the design of transition metal complexes as catalytsts for specific reactions. This approach has come to be known as biomimetic or bioinspired catalysis and continues to be a fruitful and expanding area of research.

Heterogeneous Enantioselective Hydrogenation: Theory and Practice reviews the development of enantioselective hydrogenation reaction catalysts. It looks at the first relatively ineffective catalysts right through to modern highly effective enantioselective catalytic systems, comparable in their efficiency to chiral metal complexes and enzymatic systems. The book begins with a summary of the first work on heterogeneous metal catalysts, which showed only the principal possibilities of enantioselective reactions. It then elaborates on metal catalysts which have enantioselectivities close to 100%. Finally, the practical utilization of chiral catalytic systems in processes of hydrogenation is described. The alpha- and beta-hydroxy carboxylic acid esters produced are precursors for manufacturing many synthones used for medicines as well as for monomers used for biodegradable polyesters, both of which have important practical applications. The volume summarizes more than 800 scientific papers in the field of enantioselective catalytic hydrogenation reactions, mainly those using heterogeneous metal catalysts. It provides detailed explanations of special techniques for the preparation of effective dissymmetric catalysts which provide highly efficient catalytic systems.

Catalysis underpins most modern industrial organic processes. It has become an essential tool in creating a 'greener' chemical industry by replacing more traditional stoichiometric reactions, which have high energy consumption and high waste production, with mild processes which increasingly resemble Nature's enzymes. Metal-Catalysis in Industrial Organic Processes considers the major areas of the field and discusses the logic of using catalysis in industrial processes. The book provides information on oxidation, hydrogenation, carbonylation, C-C bond formation, metathesis and polymerization processes, as well as on the mechanisms involved. In addition two appendices offer a concise treatment of homogeneous and heterogenous catalysis. Numerous exercises referring to problems of catalytic processes, and research perspectives complete the book. This definitive reference source, written by practising experts in the field, provides detailed and up-to-date information on key aspects of metal catalysis.

"Heterocycles from Transition Metal Catalysis: Formation and Functionalization" provides a concise summary of the prominent role of late transition metal (palladium, nickel, copper) catalysed processes in the synthesis and functionalization of heterocyclic systems. It gives an introduction to catalytic transformations, an overview of the most important reaction types, and presents synthetically useful catalytic processes classified by the target system and the type of transformation. The book provides a representative selection of transition metal catalysed reactions transformations that are relevant in heterocyclic chemistry. In this way, the authors present a useful resource for members of the academic community looking for a textbook as well as industrial chemists in search of a reference book. This book will be an invaluable resource for synthetic chemists, medicinal chemists, and those more generally interested in applied catalysis.

Oxidative catalysis by metalloporphyrin systems occupies a prominent role in the current research in the fields of chemical and biological catalysis. Our particular interest and approach has been to collect in the same volume papers dealing with both the chemical and biological aspects of the reactivity of heme systems because of the realization that a better understanding of the complementary discipline can be extremely useful for the researchers from either field. The current progress of the research on synthetic metalloporphyrin catalysts has led to the development of several systems that are able to reproduce the heme-enzyme mediated oxygenation and oxidation reactions, at least in terms of reaction types, mechanisms and often rates. These achievements have stimulated the of creating metalloporphyrin catalysts which are both ambitious project efficient and stable enough to become competitive for large-scale industrial processes. Although this project is still far from being realized, the efforts in this direction parallel those aimed at the application of heme enzymes to chemical technologies, e. g. for the mild, selective oxidation of organics or the detoxification of pollutants. Both the two approaches will be advantageous because while the enzyme systems can achieve selectivities which are probably unattainable by synthetic catalysts, the latter can be active under experimental conditions that would readily inactivate the enzymes.

The fields of hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) continue to attract the attention of researchers in the various disciplines connected to these fascinating problems that represent two of the key outstanding chemical challenges for the petroleum refining industry in view of their very strong environmental and commercial implications. One area that has flourished impressively over the last 15 years is the organometallic chemistry of thiophenes and other related sulfur-containing molecules. This has become a powerful method for modeling numerous surface species and reactions implicated in HDS schemes, and nowadays it represents an attractive complement to the standard procedures of surface chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis, for understanding the complex reaction mechanisms involved in this process. Similar developments have begun to appear in connection with HDN mechanisms, although in a much more modest scale and depth. Some years ago when, encouraged by Prof. B. R. James, this book was planned, several excellent reviews and monographs treating different aspects of HDS were already available including some on the subject of organometallic models. However, it seemed appropriate to try to summarize the most striking features of this chemistry in an updated and systematic way, and inasmuch as possible in connection with the common knowledge and beliefs of the mechanisms of heterogeneous HDS catalysis. Hopefully, this attempt to build some conceptual bridges between these two traditionally separated areas of chemistry has met with some success.

This book looks at new ways of tackling the problem of separating reaction products from homogeneous catalytic solutions. The new processes involve low leaching supported catalysts, soluble supports such as polymers and dendrimers and unusual solvents such as water, fluorinated organics, ionic liquids and supercritical fluids. The advantages of the different possibilities are discussed alongside suggestions for further research that will be required for commercialisation. Unlike other books, in addition to the chemistry involved, the book looks at the process design that would be required to bring the new approaches to fruition. Comparisons are given with existing processes that have already been successfully applied and examples are given where these approaches are not suitable. The book includes: - New processes for the separation of products from solutions containing homogeneous catalysts - Catalysts on insoluble or soluble supports – fixed bed catalysts - continuous flow or ultrafiltration - Biphasic systems: water - organic, fluorous - organic, ionic liquid – organic, supercritical fluids (monophasic or biphasic with water, organic or ionic liquid) - Comparisons with current processes involving atmospheric or low temperature distillation - Consideration of Chemistry and Process Design - Advantages and disadvantages of each process exposed - Consideration of what else is need for commercialisation

Recent results on a wide array of catalytic processes are collected in this volume. The book illustrates the importance of computational modelling in homogeneous catalysis by providing up-to-date reviews of its application to a variety of reactions of industrial interest.