Tandem hydroformylation/hydrogenation of olefins to alcohols using atomically dispersed bifunctional catalysts

Tandem hydroformylation/hydrogenation of olefins to alcohols is an appealing and challenging route that has received continuous interest. Herein, we report a bifunctional atomically dispersed Rh and Co catalyst (RhCo/Al2O3-10) prepared by a simple ball milling method that displays superior synergistic catalytic performance (>95% olefins conversion and >80% alcohols selectivity) and broad substrate scope for tandem hydroformylation/hydrogenation reaction, outperforming Rh/Al2O3, Co/Al2O3, and their physically mixed counterparts. In situ CO-DRIFTS, XPS, and kinetic experiments demonstrate that the electron interaction between Rh and Co atoms effectively lowers the apparent activation energy, thus promoting the tandem hydroformylation/hydrogenation reaction. This work not only presents a novel tandem hydroformylation/hydrogenation reaction system for converting olefins to alcohol but also throws light on the rational design of versatile bifunctional catalysts for on-demand synergistic catalysis.