posted on 2021-06-29, 17:35authored byConstanze
N. Neumann, Steven J. Rozeveld, Mircea Dincă
The Guerbet reaction can be used
for the condensation of simple
bioalcohols, which simultaneously doubles the carbon count and increases
the C:O ratio, to yield valuable commodity chemicals. Here, we report
a metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived RuCo catalyst that
furnishes 2-ethylhexanol, a plasticizer alcohol currently produced
on a 2 Mt/a scale. While the industrial route requires propene, the
MOF-derived catalyst uses 1-butanol and delivers turnover numbers
up to 1.7 × 106 Ru–1. In combination
with K3PO4, it serves as a fully heterogeneous
catalyst system that yields the Guerbet alcohol without producing
sodium butanoate, a common secondary product from the undesired Cannizzaro
reaction.