The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Michael Findlater

Maurice S Brookhart

Damien Guironnet

Thomas Warren Lyons

A method of making para-xylene or toluene is carried out by: (a) reacting a C5 or C6 linear monoene (itself, or formed from a C5 or C6 linear alkane) with a hydrogen acceptor in the presence of a hydrogen transfer catalyst to produce a C5 or C6 diene; (b) reacting the C5-C6 diene with ethylene to produce a cyclohexene having 1 or 2 methyl groups substituted thereon; and then (c) either (i) dehydrogenating the cyclohexene in the presence of a hydrogen acceptor with a hydrogen transfer catalyst to produce a compound selected from the group consisting of para-xylene and toluene, or (ii) dehydrogenating the cyclohexene in the absence of a hydrogen acceptor with a dehydrogenation catalyst, to produce para-xylene or toluene.

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Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America

Michael Findlater