Dehydrogenation of Butan-2-ol to Methyl Ethyl Ketone

A quite similar effect was observed during the dehydrogenation of butan-2-ol to methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) on Raney nickel (Fig. 18.26). The Raney nickel is a very efficient catalyst for this reaction and leads to methyl ethyl ketone with a selectivity of ca. 90%. This result is good but for industrial applications higher selectivities are required. This can be achieved by poisoning some sites by reaction with tetrabutyl tin (the best results are obtained with a Sn/Nis ratio of 0.02). Indeed, the reaction occurs first with the sites responsible for the side reactions which are then 

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Figure 3.34 Selective dehydrogenation of butane-2-ol to methyl ethyl ketone, (a) Conversion and selectivities to MEK as a function of the Sn/Ns ratio (b) selectivity versus reaction temperature for Sn/Ni = 0 and 0.01 7.

Fig. 18.26 Selective dehydrogenation of butane-2-ol to methyl ethyl ketone with NiSno.oi -...

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