Carbon Monoxide in Organic Synthesis

This book reviews some important reactions of carbon monoxide in organic chemistry: hydroformylation, metal carbonyl- and acid catalyzed carbonylation and ring closure reactions with carbon monoxide. It is not merely a translation of the German edition which appeared in 1967 but the text has been completely revised. This was necessary because this chemistry is rapidly developing in research as well as in technical application, which is underlined by the increase of production of e. g. oxo chemicals from about 1.4 million tons in 1967 to 2.7 million tons in 1969, nearly a doubling within 2 years. Quite a number of new research results were published during the last two years, and these additional references have been cited in the English edition. Most of the new papers cited deal with hydroformylation reactions: however, a number of the papers reviewed also report important new aspects in carboxylation and ring closure reactions. The author is indebted to a number of colleagues who helped to collect these new data and have given him valuable hints and would like to thank Miss 1. Forster, Dr. B. Cornils, Dr. D. Hahn, Dr. P. Schneller, Dr. H. Tummes, and Dr. J. Weber for their cooperation, and to Prof. Dr. F. Piacenti (University of Pisa, Italy) for discussions on reaction mecha- nisms. The author is especially grateful to Dr. Charles R. Adams of the Shell Development Company, Emeryville, California, for his cooperation in translating the German text.