Copper hydrogenolysis

One process (182) esterifi.es the acetic acid with ethanol (or methanol) and then converts the ester to alcohol by hydrogenolysis in the vapor phase over a copper—2inc catalyst. 

Ruthenium is excellent for hydrogenation of aliphatic carbonyl compounds (92), and it, as well as nickel, is used industrially for conversion of glucose to sorbitol (14,15,29,75,100). Nickel usually requires vigorous conditions unless large amounts of catalyst are used (11,20,27,37,60), or the catalyst is very active, such as W-6 Raney nickel (6). Copper chromite is always used at elevated temperatures and pressures and may be useful if aromatic-ring saturation is to be avoided. Rhodium has given excellent results under mild conditions when other catalysts have failed (4,5,66). It is useful in reduction of aliphatic carbonyls in molecules susceptible to hydrogenolysis. 

Alcohols are the most frequently formed products of ester hydrogenolysis. The hydrogenation of esters to alcohols is a reversible reaction with alcohol formation favored at high pressure, ester at low pressure (/). Copper chromite is usually the catalyst of choice. Details for the preparation of this catalyst (/7) and a detailed procedure for hydrogenation of ethyl adipate to hexamethylene glycol (/[Pg.80]

Polyhydric Alcohols. (Polyols). An alcohol with three or more hydroxyl groups, each attached to a different carbon atom. They are w-sol and of sweetish taste, which tends to intensify with increasing hydroxyl content. Examples of polyols of ordn interest are listed below. Polyvinyl alcohol is considered in a separate entry as a polymer although it is defined as a polyhydric alcohol. Polyols, when nitrated, make excellent expls, proplnt binders, plasticizers, etc. Prepn can follow the procedure of Lenth DuPuis (Ref 3) which uses a methanol suspension of either sucrose or dextrose and a special Cu-Al oxide catalyst to yield 60-65% distillable polyols at 240° and 1500psi Refs 1) Beil — refs found under individual compds 2) CA, under Alcohols, Polyhydric for compds of current ordn interest 3) C.W. Lenth R.N. DuPuis, "Polyhydric Alcohol Production by Hydrogenolysis of Sugars in the Presence of Copper-Aluminum Oxide , IEC 37, 152-57 (1945) CA 39, 1391 (1945)... 

Hydrogenation of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters The hydrogenolysis of fatty acid methyl esters into the corresponding fatty alcohols and methanol is performed at 200-300°C and a H2 pressure of 200-300 bar with the aid of copper oxide/chromium oxide catalysts (Adkins catalysts). Three different procedures are applied [39 a-c] ... 

In conclusion, hydrogenolysis processes and coke formation occur on large ensembles of surface platinum atoms [160], while dehydrogenation reactions would proceed on single (isolated) Pt atoms [169]. The presence of tin atoms regularly distributed on the metal surface diminishes the size of the ensemble [130,170-173], the same is observed for copper atoms on nickel surfaces [174] or tin atoms on rhodium and nickel surfaces [137,175-177], leading to site isolation and therefore to selectivity. 

In order to improve the selectivity toward the formation of 1,3-PDO, we studied the influence of metal salt additives. While the addition of calcium or copper salts exhibited a moderate influence, the presence of iron salts played a significant role on the rate and selectivity of the reaction (Figure 35.1). The metal additives reduced noticeably the activity of the rhodium catalysts suggesting that they acted as a surface poison, but they modified the selectivity of the glycerol hydrogenolysis, probably through selective diol chelation. 

Hydrogenolyses of carboxylic acids and esters to the corresponding aldehydes seems very attractive due to their simplicity. Copper chromites are the most widely used catalysts.15 Raney copper and zinc oxide-chromium oxide have also been used for this process.16-18 The hydrogenolysis of methyl benzoate to benzaldehyde was studied on various metal oxides at 300-350°C. ZnO, Zr02 and Ce02 presented high activities and selectivities (Scheme 4.8). 

In the catalytic hydrogenation of benzaldehyde to benzyl alcohol, it is very important to prevent the hydrogenolysis of the product. Nickel60-63 and copper... 

Palladium catalysts, mostly palladium on carbon and Pearlman s catalyst, are used for the hydrogenolysis of the benzyl—nitrogen bond. However, in some cases, platinum, nickel, and copper chromite catalysts have also been used. 

Fig. 6. Activities of copper-nickel alloy catalysts for the hydrogenolysis of ethane to methane and the dehydrogenation of cyclohexane to benzene. The activities refer to reaction rates at 316° C. Ethane hydrogenolysis activities were obtained at ethane and hydrogen pressures of 0.030 and 0.20 atm., respectively. Cyclohexane dehydrogenation activities were obtained at cyclohexane and hydrogen pressures of 0.17 and 0.83 atm, respectively (74).

Summary of Kinetic Parameters for Ethane Hydrogenolysis on Copper-Nickel Alloys (74)... 

Many systems have been described for the hydrogenolysis of glycerol, yielding mainly 1,2-propanediol. Copper chromite-based catalysts seem to be the better performing ones. Unfortunately, most of the data available is of a descriptive nature and a fundamental understanding of the catalyst is often missing. 

Model studies of the Cu/Ru(0001) catalyst have been carried out for methanation and hydrogenolysis reactions. These data suggest that copper merely serves as an inactive diluent, blocking sites on a one-to-one basis. Similar results have been found in analogus studies introducing silver onto a Rh(lll) methanation catalyst. 

The presence of tin atoms regularly distributed on the platinum surface isolates the platinum atoms by increasing the distance between two adjacent platinum atoms, as does the copper atoms on a nickel surface [108] or the tin atoms on a rhodium, platinum or nickel surface [106, 109-111]. The presence of tin would thus avoid the hydrogenolysis reaction, leading to a more selective catalyst (Figure 3.37). Indeed, the formation of isobutene from isobutane involves only one platinum atom, with the reaction passing through a simple mechanism of P-H elimination after the first step of C-H bond activation (Scheme 3.26). 

Solutions of low-valence titanium chloride (titanium dichloride) are prepared in situ by reduction of solutions of titanium trichloride in tetrahydrofuran or 1,2-dimethoxyethane with lithium aluminum hydride [204, 205], with lithium or potassium [206], with magnesium [207, 208] or with a zinc-copper couple [209,210]. Such solutions effect hydrogenolysis of halogens [208], deoxygenation of epoxides [204] and reduction of aldehydes and ketones to alkenes [205,... 

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