Patents Examined by Michael L. Shippen
  • Patent number: 6489519
    Abstract: Impurities are removed from phenol by a process, comprising: first treating phenols containing impurities with at least one acid catalyst which converts the impurities into compounds which can be separated from phenol; separating the acid treated phenol from the compounds; and treating the distilled phenol a second time with at least one acid catalyst; thereby effectively removing the impurities from phenol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Phenolchemie GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Heinrich van Barneveld, Otto Gerlich, Wilfried Jordan, Otto Schnurr, Hugo H. J. M. Liefooche
  • Patent number: 6489518
    Abstract: A process for reducing the salt content of fractions comprising high boilers obtained in the preparation of phenol from cumene, by extraction, is claimed. In the preparation of phenol from cumene, not only phenol and acetone but also by-products such as dimethyl phenyl carbinol or acetophenone are formed in the cleavage of cumene hydroperoxide. In the work-up of the cleavage product phase by distillation, these by-products are obtained as a fraction which boils only at high temperatures. These fractions further comprise alkali metal in the form of salts as a result of the neutralization by means of aqueous sodium hydroxide after the acid catalyzed cleavage. The presence of salt in this phase makes the work-up of this phase considerably more difficult. The salt is usually removed from the fraction by extraction of the fraction with water. However, considerable problems can occur if the aqueous phase cannot be cleanly separated from the organic phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Phenolchemie GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Manfred Weber, Markus Weber, Heinrich van Barneveld, Peter Bickert, Wilfried Jordan
  • Patent number: 6489520
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of cis-2-tertiary-butylcyclohexanol, where 2-tertiary-butylphenol is hydrogenated in the presence of a nickel/iron catalyst mixture and 2-tertiary-butylcyclohexyl acetate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Haarmann & Reimer GmbH
    Inventor: Walter Kuhn
  • Patent number: 6489517
    Abstract: A process for making a compound of the formula I
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventor: Rafael Shapiro
  • Patent number: 6486366
    Abstract: A method for preparation of alcohols by catalytic hydrogenation of carbonyl compounds with hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gases in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst of Raney type, where the catalyst is used in the form of hollow bodies, Preferred as catalytically active components are nickel, cobalt, copper, iron, platinum, palladium or ruthenium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: Degussa AG
    Inventors: Daniel Ostgard, Monika Berweiler, Stefan Röder
  • Patent number: 6486365
    Abstract: A process for converting carbonyl-type impurities contained in a phenolic solvent to high-boiling derivatives is provided by contacting the phenolic solvent with a hydrotalcite-type material (HTM). The phenol can be separated from the high-boiling derivatives using conventional separation techniques, such as distillation, so the invention also provides a process for separating carbonyl-type impurities, such as hydroxyacetone (HA), from a phenolic solvent. The process can be applied in the conventional industrial process for converting cumene to phenol to remove carbonyl-type impurities from the phenol product. A process and a facility for producing purified phenol by converting cumene to phenol are provided. In the conversion of cumene to phenol, the phenol often contains carbonyl-type impurities. The phenol and carbonyl-type impurities are reacted in the presence of an HTM to produce phenol and high-boiling derivatives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John W. Fulmer, Bharat Singh, Pramod Kumbhar, Prashant Anil Tatake, Umesh Hasyagar
  • Patent number: 6486364
    Abstract: The acid catalyzed condensation of phenol with acetone in the presence of a thiol promoter to produce bisphenol A is found to occur with greater overall selectivity when the catalyst employed is an amine modified acidic resin catalyst. Amine modified acidic resin catalysts are prepared from acidic resins such as sulfonated polystyrene by neutralization of a portion of the acidic functional groups present with an amine such as pyridine. Where the thiol promoter is itself an amine the use of an amine such as pyridine as the modifying agent reduces the amount of thiol promoter required to achieve high selectivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: James Lawrence Spivack
  • Patent number: 6486359
    Abstract: The invention relates to a catalyst which comprises at least one complex of a metal of group VIII, which comprises at least one uni-, bi- or multidentate phosphinite ligand in which the phosphorus atom and the oxygen atom of the phosphinite group are part of a 5- to 8-membered heterocycle, and to processes for hydroformylation and hydrocyanation of compounds which contain at least one ethylenic double bond in the presence of a catalyst of this type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: BASF Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Heiko Maas, Rocco Paciello, Michael Röper, Jakob Fischer
  • Patent number: 6482995
    Abstract: An alicyclic unsaturated alcohol (for example, tetrahydrobenzyl alcohol) having the purity of 99% by weight or more, the water content of 0.1% by weight or less and the acid value of 0.1 mg KOH/g or less can be produced, with high selectivity, by hydrogenating using an unsaturated cyclic aldehyde having the acid value of 10 mg KOH/g or less as a raw material; terminating the hydrogenation in the conversion of 70 to 99.8%; and rectifying the reaction product containing the unreacted unsaturated cyclic aldehyde. The high purity alicyclic unsaturated alcohol is useful as raw material chemicals for synthesizing drugs, agricultural chemicals, perfumes, and dyes etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2002
    Assignee: Daicel Chemical Industries, Ltd
    Inventors: Hiroto Tanigawa, Koichi Okumura, Masaya Uenoya, Kango Fujitani, Yoshihiro Kihara
  • Patent number: 6479714
    Abstract: A process for the preparation of butane triols is provided. In the process, a malic acid diester is reduced with sodium borohydride in the presence of an ether and an alcohol. Preferably, the malic acid diester is an ethyl or methyl ester, the ether is tetrahydrofuran or bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether (diglyme), and the alcohol comprises ethanol. Advantageously, the reaction is carried out at ambient temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Avecia Limited
    Inventors: David Schofield, Mark Bailey, Michael John Monteith
  • Patent number: 6479712
    Abstract: Methods for producing perfluorocarbon monomethanols or dimethanols are disclosed. The methods of the invention can provide branched perfluorocarbon monomethanols or dimethanols with good purity and yields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Exfluor Research Corporation
    Inventor: Hajimu Kawa
  • Patent number: 6476250
    Abstract: In order to provide a novel optically active binaphthol derivative useful as an asymmetric catalyst or the like, with which a higher reaction yield and a higher optical yield (selectivity) may be attained in asymmetric synthesis, an asymmetric catalyst using the same and a method of asymmetric synthesis, an optically active fluorinated binaphthol derivative represented by the following formula (I) (wherein R1 and R2 each represent a fluorinated hydrocarbon group) was synthesized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: Japan Science and Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Shu Kobayashi, Haruro Ishitani
  • Patent number: 6476277
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for preparing hydroxyaromatics by oxidizing aromatics with dinitrogen monoxide in the gas phase in the presence of nanocrystalline zeolites.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: Bayer Aktiengesellschafter
    Inventors: Bernd Vogel, Elias Klemm, Mathias Seitz, Jochen Heller, Jörg Reiser
  • Patent number: 6476278
    Abstract: Alcohols are produced in a practical and advantageous method, by the hydrogenation of a carbonyl compound under mild conditions, by reacting the carbonyl compounds with hydrogen in the presence of a bipyridyl derivative, a group VIII transition metal complex, and a base, or by reducing a carbonyl compound in the presence of a bipyridyl derivative, a group VIII transition metal complex, a base, and an alcoholic solvent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignees: Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Takasago International Corporation
    Inventors: Hideyuki Ikehira, Kunihiko Murata, Eiji Katayama, Masami Kozawa, Toru Yokozawa, Takeshi Ohkuma, Takao Ikariya, Ryoji Noyori
  • Patent number: 6476279
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods of producing fluorinated alcohols which find particular use in the syntheses of pharmaceutical drugs. The methods comprise generally, the steps of (a) reacting a halogenated alkane with an alkyl vinyl ether to form an unsaturated halogenated aldehyde; (b) reducing the unsaturated halogenated aldehyde to form an unsaturated halogenated alcohol; and (c) reducing the unsaturated halogenated alcohol to form a fluorinated alcohol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Haridasan K. Nair, Andrew Joseph Poss
  • Patent number: 6472570
    Abstract: This invention relates to process for asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins using osmium catalysts to obtain monofunctional, bifunctional, and/or polyfunctional chiral 1,2-diols of the formula (I) R1R2C(OH)—C(OH)R3R4  (I) where R1 to R4 are defined herein, by reacting an olefin of the formula (II) R1R2C═CR3R4  (II) where R1 to R4 are defined as for formula (I), with molecular oxygen in the presence of an osmium compound and a chiral amine ligand in water or a water-containing solvent mixture at a pH of from 8.5 to 13.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2002
    Assignee: Bayer Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Matthias Beller, Christian Döbler, Gerald Mehltretter, Uta Sundermeier
  • Patent number: 6469210
    Abstract: A process for producing a phenylalkanoic acid amide of the formula [3] by reacting a carboxylic acid of the formula [1] with a dehydrating agent to produce an oxazolinone compound of the formula [2] and then reacting the oxazolinone compound with methyllithium or a methylmagnesium halide and an intermediate for producing the phenylalkanoic acid compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Ihara Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuji Taniguchi, Hidetaka Hiyoshi, Katsunori Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 6469220
    Abstract: The present invention provides novel tertiary alcohol compounds which are useful as monomers for the preparation of photoresist materials having high transparency and a great affinity for the substrate and hence suitable for use in photolithography using a light source comprising preferably light having a wavelength of 300 nm or less and more preferably light emitted from an ArF excimer laser. Specifically, the present invention provides tertiary alcohols compounds represented by the following general formula (1): wherein R1 and R2 each independently represent a straigh-chain, branched or cyclic alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, in which some or all of the hydrogen atoms on the constituent carbon atoms may be replaced by a halogen atom or halogen atoms, or R1 and R2 may be joined together to form an aliphatic hydrocarbon ring; Z represents a straight-chain, branched or cyclic divalent organic group having 2 to 10 carbon atoms; and k is 0 or 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Koji Hasegawa, Takeshi Kinsho, Takeru Watanabe
  • Patent number: 6465697
    Abstract: A process for the manufacture of a polyphenol compound such as bisphenol-A by introducing into a reaction zone a phenolic compound reactant, a carbonyl compound reactant, and a catalyst promoter comprising a dithioketal compound, and reacting the ingredients within the reaction zone in the presence of an acid catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2002
    Assignee: Resolution Performance Products LLC
    Inventors: David Palmer, Pui Kwan Wong
  • Patent number: 6462206
    Abstract: Ketones and aldehydes are hydrogenated to the corresponding alcohol or alkyl group, using H2 gas as the stoichiometric reductant, and organometallic ruthenium complexes as the catalysts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Assignees: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Brookhaven Science Associates
    Inventors: R. Morris Bullock, Marcel Schlaf, Elisabeth M. Hauptman