Preparation of Highly Active Hydrogenation Catalyst by Immobilization of Polymer-Protected Colloidal Rhodium Particles

Colloidal dispersion of rhodium protected by copolymer of methyl acrylate and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone is treated with polyacrylamide gel having amino groups, resulting in immobilization of the rhodium particles onto the gel. The gel-immobilized rhodium particles exhibit 2–22 fold larger catalytic activities than a rhodium carbon catalyst for hydrogenation of olefins at 30 °C under 1 atm.