Two‐Phase Hydroformylation of Higher Olefins Using Randomly Methylated α‐Cyclodextrin as Mass Transfer Promoter: A Smart Solution for Preserving the Intrinsic Properties of the Rhodium/Trisulfonated Triphenylphosphine Catalytic System

The two‐phase hydroformylation of higher olefins with the rhodium/trisulfonated triphenylphosphine catalytic system in the presence of various chemically modified α‐cyclodextrins has been investigated. These cyclodextrins allowed us to increase greatly the reaction rate and the chemoselectivity of the reaction but, contrary to what has been observed previously with the chemically modified β‐cyclodextrins, the linear to branched aldehydes ratio was not affected by the presence of α‐cyclodextrin derivatives. Indeed, the latter was found to be similar to that obtained without any mass transfer promoter, suggesting that the catalytic species are stable in the presence of α‐cyclodextrin derivatives.