Basf Aktiengesellschaft

Horst Zimmermann

Jochem Henkelmann

Rainer Becker

Tom Witzel

Eberhard Fuchs

Wolfgang Reif

Karl Siegfried Brenner

Wolfgang Sauer

Thomas Ruehl

Hans-Juergen Scheiper

Rolf Hartmuth Fischer

Norbert Goetz

Michael Hesse

Wolfgang Harder

Boris Breitscheidel

Thomas Kuekenhoehner

Klemens Massonne

Klaus Halbritter

Horst Hartmann

Wolfgang Spiegler

Lothar Franz

Horst Neuhauser

Manfred Eggersdorfer

Michael Karcher

Hans-Juergen Gosch

Klaus-Dieter Malsch

Heinz Lingk

Daniel Nardin

Peter Cramers

Horst Nauhauser

Process for preparing phthalides

Process for producing N-methyl-2(3,4 dimethoxyphenyl)-ethylamine

Catalysts consisting of from 85 to 100 wt % of copper oxide and zirconium oxide and from 15 to 0 wt % of metal oxides of the subgroups Ib to VIIb and VIII of the Periodic Table and a process for the preparation of amines from nitriles and nitrogen compounds selected from the group comprising ammonia and primary and secondary amines, at temperatures of from 80.degree. to 250.degree. C. and pressures of from 1 to 400 bar using hydrogen in the presence of said catalysts.

Preparation of amines from nitriles by alkylation with a nitrogen

A process for the preparation of peralkylated amines of the general formula I ##STR1## in which R.sup.1, R.sup.2 denote C.sub.1 -C.sub.200 alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl, C.sub.4 -C.sub.20 alkylcycloalkyl, C.sub.4 -C.sub.20 cycloalkylalkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.20 alkoxyalkyl, aryl, C.sub.7 -C.sub.20 alkylaryl, C.sub.7 -C.sub.20 aralkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 hydroxyalkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 mercaptoalkyl, C.sub.8 -C.sub.20 phenoxyalkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 aminoalkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 (NHR.sup.4)alkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 (NR.sup.4 R.sup.5)alkyl or together form a saturated or unsaturated C.sub.2 -C.sub.6 alkylene chain optionally mono- to tri-substituted by C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and optionally interrupted by oxygen or nitrogen

Preparation of peralkylated amines

The preparation of pyrocatechol monoethers or pyrocatechols of the formula Ia or Ib respectively ##STR1## ( R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 =H or C.sub.1 --C.sub.8 -hydrocarbon radicals; R.sup.3 =C.sub.1 --C.sub.8 -hydrocarbon radical ) by rearranging a 2-hydroxycyclohexanone dialkyl ketal II ##STR2## a) in the gas phase in the presence of a platinmetal or in the presence of a compound of one of these metals as catalyst in order to obtain a compound Ia, or

Preparation of pyrocatechol monoethers and pyrocatechols

A process for the preparation of tetrahydrofuran or tetrahydrofuran and .gamma.-butyrolactone from the product of the hydrogenation of maleic acid, succinic acid, maleic anhydride, succinic anhydride and/or fumaric acid, by treating the crude hydrogenation product, without prior work-up, at from 100.degree. to 300.degree. C. with a protic acid, and isolating pure tetrahydrofuran and .gamma.-butyrolactone from the resultant reaction mixture by distillation.

Preparation of tetrahydrofuran and gamma-butyrolactone

A process for the preparation of phthalides of the formula I ##STR1## where R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 independently of one another, are hydrogen, C.sub.1 - to C.sub.4 -alkyl or C.sub.1 - to C.sub.4 -alkoxy, by reacting phthalic anhydrides of the formula II ##STR2## where R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are as defined as above, on hydrogenation catalysts at from 50.degree. to 400.degree. C. and at from 1 to 400 bar, wherein the hydrogenation catalysts employed are essentially free from Lewis acids.

Preparation of phthalides

A process for the preparation of 4-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyrans of the formula I ##STR1## where R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are hydrogen, C.sub.1 - to C.sub.12 -alkyl, C.sub.3 - to C.sub.8 -cycloalkyl, aryl or C.sub.7 - to C.sub.20 -aralkyl, comprises reacting a tetrahydropyrancarboxylic ester of the formula II ##STR2## where R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are as defined above, and R.sup.5 is hydrogen or C.sub.1 - to C.sub.12 -alkyl, at from 50.degree. to 400.degree. C. and at from 1 to 400 bar in the presence of hydrogen and a hydrogenation catalyst.

Preparation of 4-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyrans

Process for the preparation of 1,4-butanediol or tetrahydrofuran or both by the catalytic hydrogenation of maleic anhydride, succinic anhydride, maleic acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, or the alkyl esters of these acids at temperatures of from 100.degree. C. to 350.degree. C. and pressures of from 50 bar to 350 bar over a catalyst containing cobalt as the active metal and one or both of the elements copper and phosphorus, if necessary in the presence of an aliphatic alcohol.

Preparation of 1,4-butanediol or tetrahydrofuran or both

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Mannheim, Germany

Horst Zimmermann