Preparation of heterogeneous catalysts including the steps of radiation grafting of an alpha unsaturated monomer to a metal or to an organic polymer

Claim 1

A process for the production of a heterogeneous catalyst which is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogenation-, hydroformylation-, isomerisation-, cracking- and dehydrogenation-catalysts for organic molecules comprising the steps of: (a) irradiating a substrate selected from the group consisting of a metal and an organic polymer with ionizing radiation in the presence of an α olefin monomer having the formula: X--R--C═CH.sub.2 wherein R is a member selected from the group consisting of organic moieties containing a carbon chain of at least two carbon atoms and organic moieties containing an aromatic group, and wherein X is a member selected from the group consisting of nitrogen-containing and halogen-containing groups, the nitrogen- and halogen-containing groups being capable of being chemically converted to a group capable of coordinating with a member of the group consisting of metal salts and organometallic complexes so as to graft the monomer to the substrate to produce a monomer-substrate conjugate; (b) chemically converting the X group of the monomer-substrate conjugate to a group which is capable of coordinating with a member selected from the group consisting of the metal salts and the organometallic complexes; and, (c) reacting the X group of the monomer-substrate conjugate with a member selected from the group consisting of catalytic metal salts and catalytic organometallic complexes, which salts and complexes contain a metal selected from the group consisting of Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Osmium, Iridium and Platinum so as to transform the monomer-substrate conjugate into a ligand of the selected member of the group consisting of the catalytic metal salts and the catalytic organometallic complexes.