Supported Ionic Liquid Phase (SILP) catalysis: An innovative concept for homogeneous catalysis in continuous fixed-bed reactors

Applications of ionic liquids to replace conventional solvents in homogeneous transition-metal catalysis have increased significantly during the last decade. Biphasic ionic liquid/organic liquid systems offer advantages with regard to product separation, catalyst stability, and recycling but utilise in the case of fast chemical reactions only a small amount of expensive ionic liquid and catalyst. The novel Supported Ionic Liquid Phase (SILP) catalysis concept overcomes these drawbacks and allows the use of fixed-bed reactors for continuous reactions. In this Microreview the SILP catalysis concept is surveyed by presenting results for the continuous gas-phase hydroformylation of propene, as a reaction example. (c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006.