National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Japan Science and Technology Agency

Yoko Usui

Kazuhiko Sato

Masato Tanaka

A process for producing a 1,2-diol through the reaction of an olefin with hydrogen peroxide. The process is highly efficient and highly selective and catalyst recovery and reuse are easy. It does not use any strong acid or strong base causative of apparatus corrosion. The process for producing a 1,2-diol is characterized by reacting an olefin with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a polymer having a sulfo group.

Process for producing 1,2-diol

An aldehyde-containing oily solution and an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution are reacted in the presence of a catalyst comprising a polymer compound having a sulfonic acid group in a side chain thereof in a heterogeneous solution system. According to such a reaction process, carboxylic acid can be efficiently produced under mild conditions having very little influence and toxicity on the environment and a human body, with simple operations, without requiring the operation for removing a solvent after the completion of the reaction.

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Chiba, Japan

Yoko Usui