Eastman Chemical Company

Venkata Bharat Boppana

Gerald Charles Tustin

Melissa Page Steffey

David William Norman

Charles Edwan Sumner, Jr

Guy R Steinmetz

Zhufang Liu

Kenneth Wayne Hampton, Jr

A process is described that uses a silver catalyst to convert methanol into formaldehyde in the presence of less than a stoichiometric amount of oxygen. The resulting formaldehyde is reacted without isolation with propionaldehyde over a commercially available anatase titania catalyst that is shown to be catalytically active towards the formation of methacrolein from formaldehyde and propionaldehyde with conversions and selectivities close to 90%. This titania catalyst is readily available, non-toxic, and can be used with formaldehyde and a variety of other aldehyde compounds to make &#x3b1;,&#x3b2;-unsaturated aldehyde compounds. This process benefits from low raw material costs and is economically advantaged due to the elimination of catalyst separation. This process shows promising stability and selectivity during lifetime studies, particularly when performed in the presence of a hydrogen carrier gas.

Efficient synthesis of methacroelin and other alpha, beta&#x2014;unsaturated aldehydes from methanol and an aldehyde

A commercially available anatase titania catalyst is shown to be catalytically active towards the formation of methacrolein from formaldehyde and propionaldehyde with conversions and selectivities close to 90%. This titania catalyst is readily available, non-toxic, and can be used with formaldehyde and a variety of other aldehyde compounds to make &#x3b1;,&#x3b2;-unsaturated aldehyde compounds. This process benefits from low raw material costs and is economically advantaged due to the elimination of catalyst separation. An additional advantage of this method involves the ability of the catalyst to be fully regenerated after a calcination step at 450&#xb0; C. in air. This process shows promising stability and selectivity during lifetime studies, particularly when performed in the presence of a hydrogen carrier gas.

Efficient synthesis of methacroelin and other alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehydes over a regenerable anatase titania catalyst

Disclosed is a method of making and using a titania supported palladium catalyst for the single step synthesis of 2-ethylhexanal from a feed of n-butyraldehyde. This titania supported palladium catalyst demonstrates high n-butyraldehyde conversion but also produces 2-ethylhexanal in an appreciable yield with maintained activity between runs. This method provides a single step synthesis of 2-ethylhexanal from n-butyraldehyde with a catalyst that can be regenerated that provides cleaner downstream separations relative to the traditional caustic route.

Single step conversion of N-butyraldehyde to 2-ethylhexanal

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Johnson City, TN, United States of America

Venkata Bharat Boppana