CONVERTING ALCOHOLS INTO LINEAR AND BRANCHED FUNCTIONALISED ALKANES Russian patent published in 2020 - IPC C07C29/34 C07B31/00 C07B33/00 C07B35/02 

FIELD: chemistry.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method of converting an initial alcohol which is a mono- or dibasic alcohol with a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated carbon chain containing 1–30 carbon atoms (C1-30), wherein the method is carried out as a single-reactor process which does not involve purification of intermediate compounds. Method involves: (i) oxidation of the initial alcohol to obtain the corresponding aldehyde or ketone, wherein the oxidation is carried out using an oxidising agent and a catalyst, wherein the oxidising agent is any of: oxygen, air, hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite, and the catalyst is TEMPO, CuBr, bpy, NMI, O₂; or TEMPO, HNO₃, HCl, O₂; or TEMPO, NaOCl, KBr, or TEMPO, NaOCl, NaBr; (ii) condensing the corresponding aldehyde or ketone to obtain enal or enon using a metal-free condensation catalyst; wherein catalyst is pyrrolidine, proline, ammonium fluoride, ammonium formate or glycine, and (iii) reducing enal or enon using a heterogeneous Pd catalyst and H₂ as a reducing agent to obtain a product, wherein said product is an alcohol, an aldehyde, a ketone, an acetal or a ketal with a longer chain compared to the feed alcohol chain.

EFFECT: disclosed method can be carried out in mild conditions using a more stable, cost-effective and energy-efficient approach.

13 cl, 5 tbl, 8 ex