Method of making carbonyl compounds
View Patent ↗A method of making a carbonyl compound comprises contacting a compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group with a basic metal oxide catalyst at a temperature sufficient to maintain the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group in a vapor phase.
1. A method of making a carbonyl compound comprising contacting a compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group with a basic metal oxide catalyst at a temperature sufficient to maintain the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group in a vapor phase wherein the basic metal oxide catalyst consists essentially of a basic metal oxide and further wherein the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group has the formula
wherein R 1 is a hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbons and R 2 is an aromatic group having 6 to 20 carbons or the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group is a cyclohexanol or substituted cyclohexanol.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature is 300° C. to 600° C.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein R 2 is a monocyclic or polycyclic aromatic group.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein R 1 and R 2 together form a polycyclic system.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group is a benzyl alcohol selected from the group consisting of benzyl alcohol, p-methylbenzyl alcohol, p-ethylbenzyl alcohol, o-methylbenzyl alcohol, p-isobutylbenzyl alcohol, p-chlorobenzyl alcohol, 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol, o-bromobenzyl alcohol, p-methoxybenzyl alcohol, p-ethoxybenzyl alcohol, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group is cyclohexanol.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the compound comprising a secondary hydroxyl group has the formula
wherein R 3 is a hydrogen, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbons, a halogen, an alkoxy, an amino, or a cyano group.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the basic metal oxide catalyst is obtained from a basic metal oxide precursor comprising a magnesium reagent.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the basic metal oxide catalyst comprises a bimodal pore distribution.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the bimodal pore distribution comprises a first distribution of pores having an average pore diameter less than 100 angstroms and a second distribution of pores having an average diameter greater than or equal to 100 angstroms and less than or equal to 500 angstroms.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the basic metal oxide catalyst comprises an average pore diameter of 50 angstroms to 300 angstroms.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the basic metal oxide catalyst has a surface area of 50 m 2 /g to 300 m 2 /g, based on BET analysis.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein method has a selectivity of greater than or equal to 95%.