Sulfolane from butadiene

Sulfur dioxide acts as a dienophile ia the Diels-Alder reaction with many dienes (253,254) and this reaction is conducted on a commercial scale with butadiene. The initial adduct, sulfolene [77-79-2] is hydrogenated to a solvent, sulfolane [126-33-0] which is useful for selective extraction of aromatic hydrocarbons from... 

In the industrial process [12] 1,3-butadiene and water are reacted at 60-80 °C in an aqueous sulfolane solvent in the presence of triethylamine hydrogencarbonate under 10-20 bar CO2 pressure. The reaction yields linear telomers mainly, with a 90-93 % selectivity to 2,7-octadien-l-ol together with 4-5 % l,7-octadien-3-ol. Most of the products are removed from the reaction mixture by extraction with hexane, and the aqueous sulfolane phase with the rest of the products, the catalyst and the ammonium bicarbonate is... 

On the industrial level, aqueous two-phase systems are used more often than nonaqueous two-phase systems. The Kuraray Co. operates a pilot plant for the hydrodimerization of 1,3-butadiene in a two-phase system with a Pd/tppms catalyst (140). The reaction is carried out in sulfolane-water, from which the products, the octadienols, separate. The final products can be octanol or nonanediol made by subsequent isomerization and hydroformylation. The capacity of the Kuraray process is about 5000 tons/year. 

According to a patent [Y. Tokitoh, T. Higashi, K. Hino, M. Murosawa and N. Yoshimura, US Patent 5 057 631 (1991), to Kuraray Industries] the reaction is conducted with butadiene in sulfolane / water in the presence of Pd(OAc)2 as catalyst precursor and a soluble triarylphosphine (or its phosphonium bicarbonate, which is formed from octadienol itself and carbon dioxide) as ligand. The selectivity to 2,7-octadien-l-ol is 92-94% (TOF > 1000), while the isomeric l,7-octadien-3-ol accounts for another 3 5%. The product is extracted with hexane, while the aqueous sulfolane solution, containing the catalyst ca. 1 mmol/1) and triethylamine, is recycled. In the absence of carbon dioxide, the main product is 1,3,7-octatriene, an open-chain butadiene dimer. 

Telomerization requires a solvent that can dissolve both water and butadiene. To select a suitable solvent for this purpose the separability of the reaction products from the catalyst used should be considered. According to past reports, the selectivity to 2,7-octadien-l-ol, which is of high industrial value, has been 70% at most. Use of sulfolane, which had not been studied as a reaction solvent, realized a high 2,7-octadien-l-ol selectivity of at least 83% and a high reaction... 

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