Dimerized alcohol compositions and biodegradible surfactants made therefrom having cold water detergency

Abstract

There is provided an alcohol composition obtained by dimerizing an olefin feed comprising C.sub.6 -C.sub.10 linear olefins to obtain C.sub.12 -C.sub.20 olefins, followed by conversion to alcohols, such as by hydroformylation. The composition has an average number of branches ranging from 0.9 to 2.0 per molecule. The linear olefin feed preferably comprises at least 85% of C.sub.6 -C.sub.8 -olefins. The primary alcohol compositions are then converted to anionic or nonionic surfactants, preferably sulfated or oxyalkylated or both. The sulfated compositions are biodegradable and possess good cold water detergency. The process for making the dimerized primary alcohol comprises dimerizing, in the presence of a homogeneous dimerization catalyst under dimerization conditions, an olefin feed comprising C.sub.6 -C.sub.10 olefins and preferably at least 85 weight % of linear olefins based on the weight of the olefin feed, to obtain a C.sub.12 -C.sub.20 ; optionally double bond isomerizing said C.sub.12 -C.sub.20 olefins; and converting the C.sub.12 -C.sub.20 olefins to alcohols, preferably through hydroformylation. The process is preferably a one-step dimerization. The homogenous catalyst comprises a mixture of a nickel carboxylate or a nickel chelate, with an alkyl aluminum halide or an alkyl aluminum alkoxide.

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