Patent ID: 8507731

Claim:
A hydroformylation process for producing two or more aldehydes comprising a normal aldehyde and one or more iso-aldehydes with a target N/I ratio, which N/I ratio is defined as a molar ratio of the normal aldehyde to the iso-aldehydes, the process comprising contacting under reaction conditions an α-olefin represented by formula (I): R—CH 2 —CH═CH 2 (I) wherein R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, substituted and unsubstituted C 1-9 -alkyl moieties, with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a reaction medium that is essentially free of an iso-olefin represented by formula (II): R—CH 2 —C(CH 3 )═CH 2 (II) wherein R is as defined above, in the presence of a transition metal-ligand complex catalyst comprising a symmetric calixarene bisphosphite ligand represented by formula (III): wherein each R 1 is the same and is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and substituted or unsubstituted alkyl moieties; wherein each R 2 is the same and is an amide moiety; and wherein each R 3 is the same, each R 4 is the same, and each R 5 is the same, and wherein R 3 , R 4 , and R 5 are independently selected from hydrogen, alkyl, alkaryl, alkoxy, aryloxy, keto, carbonyloxy, and alkoxycarbonyl moieties; which contacting occurs under a carbon monoxide partial pressure in a range from 6 psi (41 kPa) to 300 psi (2.1 mPa) to produce the two or more aldehydes with the target N/I ratio, which target N/I ratio is selectable over a range from 3 to 60 by controlling the carbon monoxide partial pressure.