Catalytic Homogeneous Hydrogenation of CO to Methanol via Formamide

A novel amine-assisted route for low temperature homogeneous hydrogenation of CO to methanol is described. The reaction proceeds through the formation of formamide intermediates. The first amine carbonylation part is catalyzed by K₃PO₄. Subsequently, the formamides are hydrogenated in situ to methanol in the presence of a commercially available ruthenium pincer complex as a catalyst. Under optimized reaction conditions, CO (up to 10 bar) was directly converted to methanol in high yield and selectivity in the presence of H₂ (70 bar) and diethylenetriamine. A maximum TON of 539 was achieved using the catalyst Ru-Macho-BH. The high yield, selectivity, and TONs obtained for methanol production at low reaction temperature (145 °C) could make this process an attractive alternative over the traditional high temperature heterogeneous catalysis.