THE INFLUENCE OF INTRAPARTICLE MASS TRANSFER ON THE ACTIVITY OF A GEL-FORM POLYMER BOUND TRANSITION METAL CATALYST (POLYSTYRENE DIVINYLBENZENE)

A mathematical model was developed to investigate the influence of substrate intraparticle mass transport limitations on the hydrogenation rate of cyclohexene and cyclooctene at 25 to 50 C, one atm hydrogen pressure, over RhCl(PPh(,3))(,3) bound to polystyrene-divinylbenzene (DVB) polymer beads. Effective substrate diffusion coefficients were determined by studying the diffusion of cyclic hydrocarbons within benzene-swollen, polystyrene-DVB gel-type beads at 25 C. Diffusion coefficients were calculated assuming Fick's law diffusion, and were found to depend on the polymer volume fraction for solute concentrations less than 6.3 x 10('-2) M and polymer volume fractions less than 0.6. The dependence suggested that the polymer network acted as a physical obstruction to solute transport. Studies indicated that the solute-solvent interactions affecting diffusion were the same in the solvent-swollen polymer as in the pure benzene solvent.;Solute concentrations less than 0.16 M were used for the reaction rate studies. Intraparticle transport limitations were determined to be negligible within the 200-400 mesh, 1, 2, and 3% DVB catalyst beads under the reaction conditions employed. Changes in the reduction rate of cyclooctene relative to cyclohexene were not caused by differences in intraparticle diffusion rates. Alterations in selectivity were related to the catalyst bead swelling ratio implying that steric effects induced by the presence of the polymer support in the vicinity of active rhodium affected intrinsic activity. Studies of the equilibrium distribution of substrate between the solvent-swollen polymer phase and the surrounding bulk phase solution indicated that the substrate distributed uniformly for the low DVB crosslinked beads used. The mathematical model was found to predict the rate for a mass transport influenced reaction regime, the reduction of cyclohexene at 50 C over an 18-20 mesh, 3% DVB catalyst.