Branched surfactant manufacture

A process for preparing branched alkyl carboxylate surfactants, comprising the steps of:

• (a) dimerizing alpha olefins of the formula RCH═CH2 and R′CH2═CH2, to form olefins of the formula:
• wherein in the above formulas R and R′ may be the same or different C3 to C7 linear alkyl substituents;
• followed by either
• (b) isomerizing the olefins from Step (a) and the subsequent reaction of said isomerized olefins with CO/H2 under Oxo conditions using a cobalt-carbonyl-phosphine catalyst;
• or directly reacting the olefins from Step (a) with CO/H2 under Oxo conditions using a cobalt-carbonyl-phosphine catalyst;
• and
• (c) recovering branched alcohols of the formula:
• (d) oxidizing the alcohols or their aldehyde intermediates recovered from Step (c);
• and,
• (e) recovering the desired branched alkyl carboxylate surfactants.