Abstract: This invention relates in part to processes for producing one or more substituted or unsubstituted hydroxyaldehydes, e.g., 6-hydroxyhexanals, which comprise subjecting one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes, e.g., butadiene, to reductive hydroformylation in the presence of a reductive hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, and hydroformylation in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, to produce one or more substituted or unsubstituted hydroxyaldehydes. The substituted and unsubstituted hydroxyaldehydes produced by the processes of this invention can undergo further reaction(s) to afford desired derivatives thereof, e.g., epsilon caprolactone. This invention also relates in part to reaction mixtures containing one or more substituted or unsubstituted hydroxyaldehydes as principal product(s) of reaction.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 15, 1997
Date of Patent:
October 13, 1998
Assignee:
Union Carbide Chemicals & Technology Corporation
Inventors:
John Robert Briggs, Diane Lee Packett, David Robert Bryant, Ailene Gardner Phillips, David James Schreck, Kurt Damar Olson, Erik Bruce Tjaden, Anil Sakharam Guram, Thomas Carl Eisenschmid, Elaine Susan Brigham