Palladium/iodide catalyzed oxidative carbonylation of aniline to diphenylurea: Effect of ppm amounts of iron salts

The palladium/iodide couple is the most investigated catalytic system for the oxidative carbonylation of amines to give ureas or carbamates. In reinvestigating it, we found that the most prominent role of iodide is to etch the stainless steel of the autoclave employed in most of previous works, releasing in solution small amounts of iron salts. The latter are much better promoters than iodide itself. Iron and iodide have a complex interplay and, depending on relative ratios, can even deactivate each other. The presence of a halide is beneficial, but chloride is better than iodide in this respect. The ideal Fe/Pd ratio is around 10, but even an equimolar amount of iron with respect to palladium (0.02 mol% with respect to aniline, corresponding to 12 ppm Fe with respect to the whole solution) is sufficient to boost the activity of the catalytic system. Such small amount may also come from Fe(CO)5 impurities present in the CO gas when stored in steel tanks. The role of the solvent has also been investigated. It was found that the reason for the better selectivity in some cases is at least in part due to a hydrolysis of the solvent itself, which removes the coproduced water.