A novel thermoregulated ionic liquid and organic biphasic system with rh nanoparticles for olefin hydroformylation

A thermoregulated ionic liquid and organic biphasic system composed of quaternary ammonium-based ionic liquid N,N-dimethyl-N-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl) - N-(2-(2-octyloxyethoxy)ethyl) ammonium methanesulfonate (1) and cyclohexane was first applied for the Rh nanoparticle catalyzed hydroformylation of olefins, which allows for not only a highly efficient homogeneous catalytic reaction, but also an easy separation and reuse of catalyst. Under the optimized conditions, various olefins could be converted completely with C98 % selectivity for aldehydes. After reaction, the Rh nanoparticle catalyst could be recovered by simple phase separation and reused for five times without evident loss of activity.