Abstract: A silica support for use in the manufacture of a silica supported heteropolyacid catalyst for use in producing a carboxylic ester from a monocarboxylic acid, olefin and water wherein the support is produced by treating silica-gel granules with steam at a temperature in the range 100 to 300° C. for a period of time in the range 0.1 to 200 hours.

Abstract: An integrated chemical process to form derivatives of butadiene addition products comprises forming an addition product of butadiene and a selected carboxylic acid, alcohol, or glycol, to form a reaction mixture containing at least a crotyl addition product and a sec-butenyl addition product; separating the reaction product mixture into streams comprising a crotyl product stream, a sec-butenyl product stream, and at least one stream containing other reacted and unreacted products; controlling the proportion of the product streams, preferably by recycling a portion or all of a separated crotyl product stream and/or a sec-butenyl product stream and other product streams to the addition reactor; subjecting one or more separated product streams to one or more process selected from hydrolysis, hydrogenation, and isomerization to form product derivatives in preselected proportions; and recovering one or more resulting product derivatives.

Abstract: A composition for use as an reactive diluent is prepared by reacting an allylic alcohol with an epoxide in the presence of a suitable catalyst to form a hydroxy ether, which is further reacted with an aldehyde or a carboxylic acid or derivative using a catalyst that does not induce undue polymerization or rearrangement to form- an ether ester or -acetal- composition useful as an reactive diluent.

Abstract: Allyloxy esters, RnM(OR?)x(OR?)y, wherein M is silicon, carbon, boron or titanium, R is hydrogen or a hydrocarbyl group, R? are allylic unsaturated hydrocarbyl or hydrocarbyloxy hydrocarbyl groups, R? are saturated analogues of R?, and x is at least 1 and y may be zero, and n+x+y=3 if M is boron, and n+x+y=4 if M is silicon, carbon, or titanium, are used as reactive diluents in paint or coating formulations.

Abstract: A process for making a butyl ester from butadiene by reacting butadiene or a hydrocarbon fraction containing butadiene with a saturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acid, wherein the catalyst is rhenium(VII) oxide or an organic sulphonic acid containing at least 2 sulphonic acid groups per molecule wherein the ratio of the number of carbon atoms to the number of sulphonic acid groups in the organic sulphonic acid is in the range 1:1 to 1:0.15. Preferred catalysts are organic disulphonic acids for example ethane-1,2-disulphonic acid. The process can be used for making unsaturated esters, or, by hydrogenation of the product, for making saturated esters such as for example butyl acetate. Catalyst can be purified and recycled to the reactor.