AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRODUCING CARBOXYLIC ACID AND ITS ESTER USING ELECTRON RICH RHODIUM PHOSPHINE BASED CARBONYL COMPLEXES AS CATALYSTS

摘要

The present invention particularly provides an improved process for carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid and / or its derivatives especially methyl acetate using rhodium(I) complexes of the type chelated [Rh(CO)ClL] or trans-[Rh(CO)ClL2] as catalyst precursors, where L is a phosphine based chelating ligand.