Alkenes from oligomerisation

The higher alkene feed (C10-14) for the production of detergent alcohols is either a product from the wax-cracker (terminal and internal alkenes) or the byproduct of the ethene oligomerisation process (internal alkenes). In the near future a feed from high-temperature Fischer-Tropsch may be added to this. The desired aldehyde (or alcohol) product is the linear one and the cobalt catalyst must therefore perform several functions ... 

A particularly useful reaction of this type involves the direct formation of hexakis(trifluoromethyl)cyclopentadiene (71) (Scheme 31), or the corresponding cyclopentadienide (72), from the diene (38) by a fluoride ion induced reaction with pentafluoropropene [67-69]. Recent work [54] has shown that very active sources of fluoride ion can be generated by direct reaction of amines, especially TDAE (43), with perfluorinated alkenes or perfluorinated aromatic compounds and these essentially solventless systems promote both oligomerisations (see above) and polyfluoroalkylations. The absence of solvent makes recovery of product very easy, e.g. in high-yielding formation of (73), (74) or (75) (Scheme 32). 

Various oligomers of fluorinated alkenes and cycloalkenes have been prepared by fluoride ion induced oligomerisation of various monomers (Sect. 5.3), and the chemistry of these systems provides some unique reactions. The oligomers of special interest here may be described as of types (95) or (96) (Scheme 59), i. e. systems with either four (95) or three (96) perfluoro-alkyl or -cycloalkyl groups attached to the double bond, whereas systems with two perfluoroalkyl groups attached, i. e. (97) and (98), have a chemistry more similar to fluorinated alkenes that may be derived from other sources. 

The first large-scale application was the Phillips Triolefin Process (1966) in which propene was converted into ethene and 2-butene. Due to market changes the reverse process, in which propene is produced, became more attractive later. This process has been in operation since 1985. Another process is the Shell Higher Olefin Process (SHOP) in which ethene is oligomerised and the products are metathesised into detergent range olefins. The same company developed a process in speciality chemicals in which alpha-, omega-dienes are formed from cyclic alkenes. 

A besetting problem with the industrial process to remove traces of alkynes alkadienes from alkene streams using palladium catalysts has been the formation of higher hydrocarbons by oligomerisation. Although in this respect palladium is better than base metals such as nickel (which presumably explains why this cheaper metal is not used), and while the fraction of ethyne that reacts in this manner is small, nevertheless in a continuous operation these higher products accumulate, and cause problems. The carbonaceous deposits, so often mentioned, may be partly C2 species such as ethylidyne, but they also comprise adsorbed forms of oligomers in the steady state their formation is followed by release into the fluid phase. 

Other processes include the alkylation of phenol using alkenes, and the manufacture of acrylate and methacrylate esters from alcohols and the corresponding acids. Olefin hydration reactions require more extreme conditions but Deutsche Texaco have developed a resin-catalysed propene hydration process to form isopropyl alcohol [125]. The reaction is run at 130 C near the upper limit for sulphonic acid resins, but a species with sufficient lifetime is available. There is even some evidence that butene hydration is now carried out similarly. Finally, B.P. Chemicals have recently disclosed [126] a new olefin isomerisation process yielding 2,3-dimethylbut-l-ene. Here the conditions required to favour the isomerisation versus rapid oligomerisation had to be identified to establish a viable process. 

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