branched primary alcohol composition, process for preparing it, branched primary alcohol, branched primary alcohol alkoxylated composition, primary alkyl sulfate, branched primary alkyl carboxylate, and detergent composition.

摘要

There is provided a new branched primary alcohol composition and the sulfates, alkoxylates, alkoxy sulfates and carboxylates thereof exhibiting good cold water detergency and biodegradability. The branched primary alcohol composition has an average number of branches per chain of 0.7 to 3.0, having at least 8 carbon atoms and containing both methyl and ethyl branches. The primary alcohol composition may also contain less than 0.5 atom% of quaternary carbon atoms, and a significant number of ethyl branches, terminal isopropyl branches, and branching at the C3 position relative to the hydroxyl carbon. The process for its manufacture is by skeletally isomerizing an olefin feed having at least 7 carbon atoms or by dimerising a C6-C10 olefin, followed by conversion to an alcohol, as by way of hydroformylation, and ultimately sulfation, alkoxylation or both to obtain a detergent surfactant. Useful skeletal isomerization catalysts include the zeolites having at least one channel with a crystallographic free diameter along the x and/or y planes of the [001] view ranging from 42 to 70 nanometer. Useful dimerisation catalysts include a combination of a nickel carboxylate with an alkyl aluminium halids, or a combination of a nickel chelate with an alkyl aluminium alkoxide.