Hydroformylation of vegetable oils: More than 50 years of technical innovation, successful research, and development

To address key sustainability challenges, it is now necessary to develop eco-friendly alternatives to the use of petroleum resources. As such, the valorization of vegetable oils into added-value products has become of major interest. While most of the reactions dealing with oils are related to their ester function, reactions have been developed to functionalize their CC double bonds. For example, the catalytic hydroformylation of vegetable fatty compounds enables the conversion of their CC double bonds into aldehydes. The reaction is atom-economic and can be implemented under homogeneous, heterogeneous, or biphasic conditions. The catalytic hydroformylation of unsaturated fatty compounds has recently experienced a revival. The aim of the present article is to summarize current knowledge on the topic. The main salient results obtained since the 1960s are discussed and compared.