Process for the preparation of lightly-branched hydrophobes and the corresponding surfactants and applications thereof

A process for preparing an alcohol product comprising:

• (1) combining at least one olefin and at least one coordination-insertion catalyst and, optionally, an alpha-olefin,
• wherein the coordination-insertion catalyst is a metal-ligand complex of formula
• wherein M is the metal center, and is a Group 4 metal selected from titanium, zirconium or hafnium;
• T is an optional bridging group which, if present is selected from dialkylsilyl, diarylsilyl, dialkylmethyl, ethylenyl (—CH2—CH2—) or hydrocarbylethylenyl wherein one, two, three or four of the hydrogen atoms in ethylenyl are substituted by hydrocarbyl, where hydrocarbyl can be independently C1 to C16 alkyl or phenyl, tolyl, or xylyl, and when T is present, the catalyst represented can be in a racemic or a meso form;
• L1 and L2 are the same or different cyclopentadienyl, indenyl, tetrahydroindenyl or fluorenyl rings, optionally substituted, that are each bonded to M, or L1 and L2 are the same or different cyclopentadienyl, indenyl, tetrahydroindenyl or fluorenyl, which are optionally substituted;
• Z is nitrogen, oxygen or phosphorus;
• R′ is a cyclic linear or branched C1 to C40 alkyl or substituted alkyl group;
• and
• X1 and X2 are, independently, hydrogen, halogen, hydride radicals, hydrocarbyl radicals, substituted hydrocarbyl radicals, halocarbyl radicals, substituted halocarbyl radicals, silylcarbyl radicals, substituted silylcarbyl radicals, germylcarbyl radicals, or substituted germylcarbyl radicals;
• or both X are joined and bound to the metal atom to form a metallacycle ring containing from 3 to 20 carbon atoms;
• or both together can be an olefin, diolefin or aryne ligand,
• and has an ethylene/octene reactivity ratio up to 20 at an operating reactor temperature, and a kinetic chain length up to 20 monomer units;
• under conditions such that at least one oligomer product is formed,
• wherein the oligomer product includes a main carbon chain containing an average of between 0.5 and 2.5 branches, wherein more than 50% of the branches are ethyl branches, wherein the branches are located on average more than one carbon away from each end of the main carbon chain in more than 20% of oligomer product molecules, wherein the branches are situated at a second carbon relative to an unsaturated end of the main carbon chain in less than 40% of the oligomer product molecules, and wherein the oligomer product contains greater than 50% vinyl olefin;
• (2) fractionating the oligomer product to produce a fractionated oligomer product, such that the average carbon number of the fractionated oligomer product is between 8 and 28;
• (3) hydroformylating the fractionated oligomer product to produce an aldehyde product;
• and
• (4) hydrogenating the aldehyde product to produce the alcohol product.