Acetaldehyde from Ethylene and Related Wacker‐Type Reactions

Stoichiometric or catalytic oxidation of olefins to carbonyl compounds by palladium compounds, the Wacker reaction, was found after World War II. The oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde, at that time an important intermediate of aliphatic organic chemical industry, has been developed to a commercial process, which was then operated in most industrialized countries. The Wacker process became a model process of homogeneous catalysis. The palladium-catalyzed oxidation reaction can be applied to a broad range of olefinic compounds to form the respective carbonyl compounds, which are intermediates in the syntheses of complex organic compounds.