- published: 30 Aug 2012
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Carbonylation refers to reactions that introduce carbon monoxide into organic and inorganic substrates. Carbon monoxide is abundantly available and conveniently reactive, so it is widely used as a reactant in industrial chemistry. The term carbonylation also refers to oxidation of protein side chains.
The modification of native amino acids side chains in proteins to carbonyl (aldehyde and ketone) derivatives is known as protein carbonylation. Oxidative stress, often metal catalyzed, leads to protein carbonylation.
Several industrially useful organic chemicals are prepared by carbonylations, which can be highly selective reactions. Carbonylations produce organic carbonyls, i.e., compounds that contain the C=O functional group such as aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and esters. Carbonylations are the basis of two main types of reactions, hydroformylation and Reppe Chemistry.
Hydroformylation entails the addition of both carbon monoxide and hydrogen to unsaturated organic compounds, usually alkenes. The usual products are aldehydes: