Nippon Petrochemicals Company, Limited

Noboru Kiyota

Yasuo Matsumura

Kazuharu Suyama

Tomohiro Konishi

An inexpensive method for producing trimethylhydroquinone free from the problem of the disposal of waste catalyst, which method comprises the steps of: (1) reacting isophorone in the presence of an acid catalyst and recovering &bgr;-isophorone by distiiulation, (2) oxidizing the &bgr;-isophorone in the presence of amorphous carbon and a base to obtain 4-oxoisophorone, (3) reacting the 4-oxoisophorone with an acid anhydride in a liquid phase or with a carboxylic acid in a vapor phase in the presence of a solid acid catalyst to obtain trimethylhydroquinones, and (4) hydrolyzing the trimethylhydroquinones to obtaining trimethylhydroquinone.

Method for producing trimethylhydroquinone

An inexpensive method for producing trimethylhydroquinone free from the problem of the disposal of waste catalyst, which method comprises the steps of: (1) reacting isophorone in the presence of an acid catalyst and recovering &bgr;-isophorone by distillation, (2) oxidizing the &bgr;-isophorone in the presence of amorphous carbon and a base to obtain 4-oxoisophorone, (3) reacting the 4-oxoisophorone with an acid anhydride in a liquid phase or with a carboxylic acid in a vapor phase in the presence of a solid acid catalyst to obtain trimethylhydroquinones, and (4) hydrolyzing the trimethylhydroquinones to obtaining trimethylhydroquinone.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Noboru Kiyota