Epoxide stabilization of fluorophosphite-metal catalyst system

摘要

A process for stabilizing a fluorophosphite ligand in a hydroformylation reaction mixture having an alpha-olefin, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and a catalyst composition having a combination of a rhodium containing compound and one or more fluorophosphite compounds having the general formula:wherein R<1 >and R<2 >are hydrocarbyl radicals which contain a total of up to about 40 carbon atoms, the process includes the step of adding to the reaction mixture an epoxide in a sufficient amount to reduce the degradation of the fluorophosphite ligand.