Talk:Wilkinson's catalyst

Amusing detail

Thank you ProjectOsprey for finding the vastly improved image for the Wlikinson catalysis cycle as drawn by one of our colleagues. The image is clearer. Here is an amusing detail: Wilkinson's catalyst is terrific for hydrogenating many alkenes and alkynes, but it does not hydrogenate ethylene itself, as noted by the original authors. Ethylene is just too good of a ligand apparently, and out competes oxidative addition of H₂. We should leave the new scheme, despite this discrepancy. --Smokefoot (talk) 16:05, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

@Smokefoot: Well, why would anyone use Wilkinson's catalyst to make ethane or propane in the first place? I prefer the new scheme as well. I should disclose that Wilkinson's catalyst was one of my least favorite molecules in my undergrad years. I also disliked the Shell higher olefin process (SHOP).

On my talk page you mentioned the "not a textbook" section of WP:NOT. I agree and this diff where you reverted extensive discussion of somebody's recent research suggests we have similar ideas of what the article should look like. Are there other articles you think should be improved or have watchlisted? I think the SHOP article is another one that needs fixing... Roches (talk) 21:31, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

I made two big changes/deletions

1) One where it was implied that the Monsanto asymm hydrogenation route to L-DOPA was based on RhClP3 but it was based on the [Rh(diphosphine)(solvento)2]+ system.

2) my other substantial edit was to tone down hype of a paper. Probably contributed by one of the authors of the cited paper. We see this tunnel-vision/self-promotion/hype behavior all the time in Wikipedia. Not evil, just human nature but infrequent editors looking for fame.

As to why anyone would hydrogenate ethylene, I doubt if anyone does, but authors often use C₂H₄ in mechanistic schemes because it is simple, but the amusing catch is that for Wilkinson's catalyst, it is not a substrate. Weird.--Smokefoot (talk) 23:58, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

I found a different scheme which shows R-groups (I'm always surprise to see good but unused images on Commons). Your amusing detail is indeed amusing and should probably be noted in the article. I also found another which illustrates the steric limitations of the catalyst, of interest perhaps? --Project Osprey (talk) 09:01, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

I have also been finding useful material in Commons. Ok, maybe I will write something about selectivity. I will check eEROS. --Smokefoot (talk) 13:39, 2 September 2016 (UTC)