Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.

Kozo Sano

Takeo Ikarashi

Tetsuo Aoyama

Shigeru Horie

Hidetaka Kiga

Hideo Igarashi

Kinichi Mizuno

Mikio Goto

Naoto Osaki

Carbon monoxide of high purity and methanol can be obtained from a mixture of methyl formate and methanol without eliminating methanol or isolating methyl formate from the mixture by selectively pyrolyzing methyl formate alone in the presence of an alkali metal compound other than alkali metal alcoholates.

Process for the production of carbon monoxide

Dimethyl formamide is produced in a considerably high yield by reaction of monomethylamine and triethylamine, or monomethylamine, trimethylamine and dimethylamine with carbon monoxide in the presence of metallic iron or an iron compound as a catalyst, while adding 2-20 moles of free water per gram-atom of iron of the catalyst to the reaction system.

Process for producing dimethyl formamide

Dimethyl formamide with a high purity is produced in a high yield and a high selectivity by reaction of a mixture of monomethylamine and/or monomethyl formamide and trimethylamine, or the mixture further containing dimethylamine with carbon monoxide in the presence of metallic iron or an iron compound as a catalyst and hydrogen gas at a volumic rate of H.sub.2 /CO of 0.05-3.

A process for preparing a methylphenol from an alkylbenzene which process comprises oxidizing by molecular oxygen an alkylbenzene having one secondary alkyl group and 1-3 methyl groups of the general formula I ##STR1## where R is a secondary alkyl group and n is an integer of 1-3, acid-decomposing the oxidation product solution in the presence of an acid catalyst, stopping the acid-decomposition reaction before its completion, hydrogenating the acid decomposition product solution in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst in the presence or absence of a solvent, and recovering the resulting methylphenol of the general formula II ##STR2## where n is an integer of 1-3 from the hydrogenation product solution.

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Niigata, Japan

Kozo Sano