Process for producing p-n-alkylbenzoic acid
AssigneeKawasaki Kasei Chemicals Ltd.
InventorsRyo Matsuura, Kazuya Nagaoka, Kouji Kusabe, Shuichi Nakatani
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Abstract
p-n-Alkylbenzoic acids having high purity without containing isomers are important as intermediates for liquid crystals. The p-n-alkylbenzoic acid is produced by reacting a p-formylbenzoic acid or its ester with a ketone having the formula ##STR1## wherein R represents a C.sub.1 -C.sub.18 n-alkyl or n-alkenyl group in the presence of a basic catalyst to obtain an unsaturated ketone compound having the formula ##STR2## wherein R is defined above and X represents hydrogen atom or a C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl group, and then, hydrogenating and reducing the unsaturated ketone compound to obtain the p-n-alkylbenzoic acid having the formula ##STR3##
Claims6
A process for producing p-n-alkylbenzoic acid which comprises (1) reacting a p-formylbenzoic acid or its ester with a ketone having the formula ##STR13## wherein R represents a C.sub.1 -C.sub.18 n-alkyl or n-alkenyl group in the presence of a basic catalyst to obtain an intermediate reaction product, (2) dehydrating said reaction product in an acidic condition to obtain an unsaturated ketone compound having the formula ##STR14## wherein R is defined above and X represents hydrogen atom or a C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl group, (3) hydrogenation said unsaturated ketone thereby converting --CH.dbd.CH-- to --CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --, and (4) reducing said resulting ketone thereby converting ##STR15## to --CH.sub.2 -- to obtain the p-n-alkylbenzoic acid having the formula ##STR16## wherein R is C.sub.1 -C.sub.18 n-alkyl.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.