National Distillers and Chemical Corporation

David Horvitz

William D Baugh

Thomas S Brima

In the process for catalytically reacting olefin and oxygen to provide glycol or a mixture of glycol and glycol ester, higher rates of reaction and/or higher selectivities for the desired product(s) are obtained employing as catalyst, a composition comprising a mixture of molecular iodine and hydrobromic acid; hydriodic acid and hydrobromic acid; or, at least one oxide of antimony, bismuth or tellurium in admixture with at least one member of the group consisting of hydriodic acid; molecular iodine; hydriodic acid and molecular iodine; molecular iodine and hydrobromic acid; and, hydriodic acid and hydrobromic acid in a water or water-carboxylic acid reaction medium.

Process for preparing glycols and glycol esters

An improvement in the reaction of olefin with aldehyde, and optionally, carboxylic acid, in the liquid phase in the presence of a catalytically effective amount of strong acid to provide a 1,3-difunctional compound or a mixture of 1,3-difunctional compounds is provided by carrying out the aforesaid reaction in the further presence of a co-catalyst selected from the group consisting of antimony oxide, bismuth oxide, antimony salt, bismuth salt and mixtures thereof.

Production of 1,3-difunctional compounds

Gamma-butyrolactones are manufactured from olefins by reacting an olefin with an aldehyde to produce a 1,3-difunctional compound, reacting the 1,3-difunctional compound with carbon monoxide, and thereafter recovering the lactone thus produced.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

David Horvitz