PNNL

Abstract

The coupling of oxygenates derived from biomass is critical to the production of sustainable commodity chemicals. However, most current industrial oxygenate condensation processes rely on highly corrosive homogenous basic catalysts. To find greener alternatives, several condensation reactions were screened using a variety of alkaline-doped MgO and MgO-Al2O3 heterogenous catalysts. These include i) the self-condensation of hexanedione to methylcyclopentenone, ii) the self-condensation of methyl ethyl ketone to form C8 or C12 ketones, and iii) the coupling of dimethyl succinate and benzaldehyde. We demonstrate substantial yields for several condensation reactions that typically require homogenous base catalysts