CATALYST COMPOSITION AND SINGLE-STAGE PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF 1,3-BUTANEDIOL FROM ETHYLENE OXIDE AND SYNTHETIC GAS USING CATALYST COMPOSITION COMPRISING N-HETEROCYCLIC LIGAND Russian patent published in 2007 - IPC B01J31/18 C07C31/20 C07C29/16 B01J31/20 B01J31/28 

FIELD: industrial organic synthesis and catalysts.

SUBSTANCE: invention provides alternative bimetallic catalyst composition comprising a cobalt component constituted by a number of non-alloyed cobalt carbonyl compounds and a ruthenium component including ruthenium carbonyl compound alloyed with N-heterocyclic ligand selected from group of bidentate and multidentate N-heterocyclic ligands. 1,3-Butanediol production process comprises providing reaction mixture containing ethylene oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, inert organic solvent, and above-defined catalyst, and heating this reaction mixture to temperature from 30 to 150°C at pressure from 100 to 4000 psig (690 to 27580 kPa) over a period of time long enough to obtain biphasic mixture of products composed of (i) upper phase including major part of solvent, at least wt 50% of catalyst composition plus unreacted ethylene oxide and (ii) lower phase containing major part of 1,3-butanediol.

EFFECT: increased yield of product under mild conditions and increased stability of catalyst.

8 cl, 5 dwg, 19 tbl, 98 ex