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US 10,590,062 B1Granted
Iron-catalyzed selective production of methyl esters from aldehydes
AssigneeEastman Chemical Company
InventorsSumit Chakraborty, Steven J. Adams, Robert Thomas Hembre, Leslie Sharon Depew
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Abstract
A process for making methyl esters in high yields is provided. The process comprises contacting aliphatic or aromatic aldehydes and methanol with an iron catalyst, to catalyze the dehydrogenative coupling between aliphatic or aromatic aldehydes and methanol. The reaction is highly selective (<99.9%) toward the formation of methyl esters over homoesters and alcohols and operates at temperatures of less than 100° C. for 2-8 hours.
Claims6
A process for preparing esters comprising:
- a) combining an aldehyde having the formula R1CO with an alcohol having the formula R2OH and an iron catalyst to form a first mixture;
- b) heating the first mixture to form an ester having the formula R1COR2O and H2;
- wherein R1 is a C4 to C8 aliphatic, alicyclic or aromatic group and wherein R2 is a C1 to C4 group, and wherein said iron catalyst is represented by the structure:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.