Oleic hydrocarboxylation

C-19 dicarboxyhc acid can be made from oleic acid or derivatives and carbon monoxide by hydroformylation, hydrocarboxylation, or carbonylation. In hydroformylation, ie, the Oxo reaction or Roelen reaction, the catalyst is usually cobalt carbonyl or a rhodium complex (see Oxo process). When using a cobalt catalyst a mixture of isomeric C-19 compounds results due to isomerization of the double bond prior to carbon monoxide addition (80). 

Carbonylation, or the Koch reaction, can be represented by the same equation as for hydrocarboxylation. The catalyst is H2SO4. A mixture of C-19 dicarboxyhc acids results due to extensive isomerization of the double bond. Methyl-branched isomers are formed by rearrangement of the intermediate carbonium ions. Reaction of oleic acid with carbon monoxide at 4.6 MPa (45 atm) using 97% sulfuric acid gives an 83% yield of the C-19 dicarboxyhc acid (82). Further optimization of the reaction has been reported along with physical data of the various C-19 dibasic acids produced. The mixture of C-19 acids was found to contain approximately 25% secondary carboxyl and 75% tertiary carboxyl groups. As expected, the tertiary carboxyl was found to be very difficult to esterify (80,83). 

The dimer acids [61788-89-4] 9- and 10-carboxystearic acids, and C-21 dicarboxylic acids are products resulting from three different reactions of C-18 unsaturated fatty acids. These reactions are, respectively, self-condensation, reaction with carbon monoxide followed by oxidation of the resulting 9- or 10-formylstearic acid (or, alternatively, by hydrocarboxylation of the unsaturated fatty acid), and Diels-Alder reaction with acryUc acid. The starting materials for these reactions have been almost exclusively tall oil fatty acids or, to a lesser degree, oleic acid, although other unsaturated fatty acid feedstocks can be used (see Carboxylic acids. Fatty acids from tall oil Tall oil). 

An interesting reaction of oleochemicals with carbon monoxide is hydrocarboxylation, the reaction of unsaturated compounds with CO and water yielding carboxylic acids. If oleic acid is used as the starting compound, the product is a branched... 

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