Direct hydrogenation of aliphatic carboxylic acids to corresponding aldehydes with Cr_2O_3 catalyst

摘要

A new process for the production of aliphatic aldehydes was develolped and commercialized.Using highly pure Cr_2O_3 catalysts,we succeeded in hydrogenating aliphatic carboxylic acids directly to corresponding aldehydes in excellent yields.Noteworthy was that acids with a C=C double bond (e.g. 10-undecenoic acid [10-UDEA]) were selectively hydrogenated at the C=O group without hydrogenation or migration of their C=C bond to give 10-undecenal [10-UDEH].Examination of the surface of Cr_2O_3 indicated its neutral property,which was believed to be the reason for the high selectivity of this catalyst.