Pitfalls in platinum catalysis: the predominant role of palladium traces in the alkoxycarbonylation of olefins and telomerization of 1,3-butadiene.

Authors

Pierre Fablet, Yury Vasev, Ralf Jackstell, Matthias Beller

Published in

Chemical communications (Cambridge, England). Aug 12, 2026. Epub Aug 12, 2026.

Abstract

The economic volatility of palladium has intensified research into alternative platinum-group metal (PGM) catalysts. Recent reports have highlighted the high activity of platinum in the alkoxycarbonylation of olefins and telomerization of 1,3-butadiene. However, our systematic reinvestigation reveals that this observed catalytic activity can be predominantly attributed to trace palladium impurities (at ppm levels) present in commercial platinum sources. Through rigorous ICP analysis and control experiments using ultrapure platinum, we demonstrate that even 10 ppm of palladium is sufficient to drive these transformations, whereas pure platinum exhibits significantly lower efficiency. These findings serve as a critical cautionary note for the catalysis community, emphasizing the necessity of using ultrapure PGM sources and verification protocols to avoid misattributing catalytic performance in noble metal-catalyzed reactions.

PMID:
42581818
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.