Aldol condensation butyraldehyde

Ethyl alcohol has been made by the hydration of ethylene (9) since 1930. Like isopropyl alcohol, part of the output is used as a solvent, but most is converted to other oxygenated chemicals. Its most important raw material use is conversion to acetaldehyde by catalytic air oxidation. Acetaldehyde, in turn, is the raw material source of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, pentaerythritol, synthetic n-butyl alcohol (via aldol condensation), butyraldehyde, and other products. Butyraldehyde is the source of butyric acid, polyvinyl butyral resin, and 2-ethylhexanol (octyl alcohol). The last-named eight-carbon alcohol is based on the aldol condensation of butyraldehyde and is used to make the important plasticizer di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate. A few examples of the important reactions of acetaldehyde are as follows ... 

Ethylhexanal, the reduced aldol condensation product of //-butyraldehyde, is converted into 2-ethylhexanoic acid [149-57-5] which is converted primarily into salts or metal soaps. These are used as paint driers and heat stabili2ers for poly(vinyl chloride). 

Trimethylolpropane (TMP), the reduced crossed aldol condensation product of //-butyraldehyde and formaldehyde, competes in many of the same markets as glycerol (qv) and pentaerythritol. The largest market for TMP is as a precursor in unsaturated polyester resins, short-oil alkyds, and urethanes for surface coatings (see Alkyd resins). 

Methyl amyl ketone, derived from the crossed aldol condensation of -butyraldehyde and acetone, is used predominandy as a high soHds coatings solvent. It is also employed as a replacement for the very toxic 2-ethoxyethyl acetate [111 -15-9J. 

Neo acids are prepared from selected olefins using carbon monoxide and acid catalyst (4) (see Carboxylic Acids, trialkylacetic acids). 2-EthyIhexanoic acid is manufactured by an aldol condensation of butyraldehyde followed by an oxidation of the resulting aldehyde (5). Isopalmitic acid [4669-02-7] is probably made by an aldol reaction of octanal. 

The largest commercial process is the hydroformylation of propene, which yields n-butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde. n-Butyraldehyde (n-butanal) is either hydrogenated to n-butanol or transformed to 2-ethyl-hexanol via aldol condensation and subsequent hydrogenation. 2-Ethylhexanol is an important plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride. This reaction is noted in Chapter 8. 

Figure 8-6. The Hoechst AG process for producing 2-ethylhexanol from n-butyraldehyde (1) Aldol condensation reactor, (2) separation (organic phase from liquid phase), (3) hydrogenation reactor, (4) distillation column.

Hydroformylation is an important industrial process carried out using rhodium phosphine or cobalt carbonyl catalysts. The major industrial process using the rhodium catalyst is hydroformylation of propene with synthesis gas (potentially obtainable from a renewable resource, see Chapter 6). The product, butyraldehyde, is formed as a mixture of n- and iso- isomers the n-isomer is the most desired product, being used for conversion to butanol via hydrogenation) and 2-ethylhexanol via aldol condensation and hydrogenation). Butanol is a valuable solvent in many surface coating formulations whilst 2-ethylhexanol is widely used in the production of phthalate plasticizers. 

The n-butyraldehyde is treated with a 2 per cent w/w aqueous sodium hydroxide and undergoes an aldol condensation at a conversion efficiency of 90 per cent. The product of this reaction, 2-ethylhexanal, is separated and then reduced to 2-ethylhexanol by hydrogen in the presence of a Raney nickel catalyst with a 99 per cent conversion rate. In subsequent stages of the process (details of which are not required), 99.8 per cent of the 2-ethylhexanol is recovered at a purity of 99 per cent by weight. 

This substrate was prepared by aldol condensation of tetralone with iso-butyraldehyde in the presence of aqueous sodium hydroxide[9]. 

The same front-end Oxo process is used to make the butyraldehyde feed for 2-EH manufacture, but then the butyraldehyde is dimerized in a reaction called aldol condensation. Some plants even combine the Oxo process and the Aldol process and then refer to it as the Aldox process. 

Ethylhexanol is produced by aldol condensation of butyraldehyde followed by reduction. It can also be made in one step from propylene and synthesis gas converted to butanols and 2-ethylhexanol without isolating the butyraldehydes. See Chapter 10, Section 6. 

The order of activity per unit surface area was equal to that in the case of selfcondensation of acetone and in agreement with the order of basicity of the solids, namely, SrO > CaO > MgO. However, the authors found that the rate-determining step for aldol condensation of n-butyraldehyde is the a-hydrogen abstraction by the active sites, which are the surface ions. The differences in rate-determining step and active sites in the condensation of butyraldehyde and aldol condensation of the acetone were attributed to differences in acidity of the a-hydrogen in the two molecules. CaO was slightly more active than MgO at 273 K after a reaction time of 1 h, maximum conversions of 41% were observed with selectivities to 2-ethyl-3-hydroxy-hexanal and to the corresponding Tishchenko reaction product (2-ethyl-3-hydroxy- -hexyl butyrate) of 39.8 and 56.9%, respectively. 

Shu and co-workers (35) identified 2-isobutyl-3,5-diisopropylpyridine, 2-pentyl-3,5-dimethylpyridine, and its dihydro derivative obtained under similar conditions. Sultan (29) confirmed the presence of 3,5-diethyl-2-propylpyridine in a model system consisting of butyraldehyde and ammonium sulfide. Our proposed mechanism of their formation (20) consists of three steps 1) aldol condensation of the starting aldehydes to 2,4-alkadienals, 2) imine formation with ammonia, and 3) subsequent cyclization and oxidation to corresponding pyridines. An alternate mechanism, suggested by Shu and co-workers (33), takes into consideration the isolated dihydro derivatives. Hwang and co-workers described another dihydro derivative (19, R = Bu, R = R" = Pr, R= H) (37). 

Another oxo plant, now being constructed, will make butyl compounds (88). These may be the source of butyl alcohol, butyl acetate, butyric acid for the manufacture of cellulose acetate butyrate and other products, butyraldehyde for polyvinyl butyral, and the eight-carbon compounds including 2-ethylhexanol. All these will add to the present production of the same compounds made by the older methods from acetaldehyde via aldol condensation. 

Ethylhexanol is usually produced by subsequent aldolization of butyraldehyde produced in the oxo reaction followed by hydrogenation of the intermediate unsaturated aldehyde.89 In Esso s Aldox process, however, in situ aldol condensation is effected by suitable promoters.11 Magnesium ethoxide and soluble zinc compounds are recommended to promote controlled aldolization during the oxo reaction. The Shell variant uses potassium hydroxide. Serious disadvantages (mixed aldolization with the branched aldehyde, problems associated with recycling of the additives), however, prevented wider use of the Aldox process. 

Pd-containing aluminophosphate molecular sieves have been used to carry out crossed aldol condensations between an aldehyde and a ketone by using a 0.5 % Pd/ MnAPSO-31 catalyst in a vapour-phase fixed bed reactor.[14] Thanks to the excess of the ketone with respect to the aldehyde (4 1), it is possible to get high selectivity to the desired product, i.e. 70 % of heptan-2-one from n-butyraldehyde and acetone and 89 % of pentan-2-one from acetaldehyde and acetone, the major by-product being, in both cases, MIBK from acetone self-condensation. 

The aldehydes commercially produced this way are many. One of the most important is n-butyraldehyde. Isononyl aldehyde is also an important intermediate. As shown by reactions 5.2 and 5.3, propylene is hydroformylated to n-butyraldehyde which is then converted by aldol condensation and hydrogenation to 2-ethyl hexanol. 

The largest volume hydroformylation reaction converts propylene into n-butyraldehyde, from which is made 1-butanol for solvents, or 2-ethylhexanol (the phthalate ester of which has been widely used as a plasticizer for PVC) via an aldol condensation. Estimated world production of butanol is approaching 2 Mt/a. 

The aldol condensations were carried out with the enolates derived from 3-oxocyclopent-1-ene or 3-oxo-cyclohex-l-ene and benzaldehyde or butyraldehyde (see p. 186, 443). 

The aldolic condensation of butyraldehyde occurs in the presence of caustic soda, which acts as a catalyst (Ruhrchemie process). The system operates in this case between 80 and 130 C and between 03 and 1.106 Pa absolute. The continuous removal of one molecule of water yields 2-ethylhexenal, which is hydrogenated in the presence of a nickel catalyst between 100 and 15IPC and between 5 and 10.10 Pa absolute. 

Cyclocondensations of simple carbonyl compounds—such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, propionaldehyde, or the butyraldehydes—and simple diamines—such as ethylenediamine and 1,2- or 1,3-propanediamine—were studied by Curtis and coworkers in the 1960s (Curtis, 1968). The resulting complexed cyclic bis Schiff base was reduced to form the tetraaza-crown ligand. The cyclic product is a result of an aldol condensation of the carbonyl compound, followed by ring-closure reactions with the diamine. In 1966,... 

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