Patent ID: 6852865

Claim:
A process for the carbonylation of a compound having the formula: where R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C 1 -C 100,000 -alkyl, C 2 -C 100,000 -alkenyl and C 6 -C 100,000 -aryl, where the alkyl, alkenyl and aryl are optionally substituted with halogen or benzyl ether, and alkylaryl, ester, ketone, alcohol, acid, aldehyde, amide and tosyl containing from 1 to 20 carbon atom, and benzyl ether, alkyl substituted silyl ether where the ether group is C 1 -C 6 alkylene and alkyl substitution consists of one to three C 1 -C 6 alkyl(s) substituted on silyl, and any other functionality that the catalyst referred to below is tolerant of, and where R 2 and R 4 can join to form a ring, and X is selected from the group consisting of O, S and NR 5 where R 5 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C 1 -C 100,000 -alkyl, C 2 -C 100,000 -alkenyl and C 6 -C 100,000 -aryl where the alkyl alkenyl and aryl are optionally substituted with halogen or benzyl ether, and alkylaryl, ester, ketone, alcohol, acid, aldehyde, amide and tosyl containing from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, and benzyl ether, alkyl substituted silyl ether where the ether group is C 1 -C 6 -alkylene and where the alkyl substitution consists of one to three C 1 -C 6 alkyl(s) substituted on silyl, and any other functionality that the catalyst referred to below is tolerant of and does not cause rearrangement, and where n is 0 or 1, and Y is C═O or CH 2 , said process comprising the step of reacting compound (I) with carbon monoxide in the presence of a catalytically effective amount of catalyst having the general formula [Lewis acid] z+ {[QM(CO) x ] w− } y where Q is any ligand and need not be present, M is a transition metal selected from the group consisting of Groups 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the periodic table of elements, z is the valence of the Lewis acid and ranges from 1 to 6, w is the charge of the metal carbonyl and ranges from 1 to 4 and y is a number such that w times y equals z, and x is a number such as to provide a stable anionic metal carbonyl for {[QM(CO) x ] w− } y , to form a product having the structural formula: where R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 and X correspond to R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 and X in (I) including R 2 and R 4 forming a ring if that is the case for (I); and in the case where n for (I) is 0, n for (II) is 0 or 1, and in the case where n for (I) is 1, n for (II) is 1; said catalyst excluding catalyst formed from the combination of a cobalt source and a hydroxy substituted pyridine.