Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the conversion of furfuryl alcohol into a levulinate ester comprising contacting furfuryl alcohol; an alcohol, or a mixture thereof; and a homogeneous catalyst at a first reaction temperature in the range of from 125 to 180° C. to form a reaction mixture; and forming the levulinate ester in the reaction mixture, characterised in that the first homogeneous catalyst is a sulfonic acid catalyst.

Abstract: The invention relates to a chiral solid catalyst containing a BEA topology zeolite and a metal-binap complex and to a process for the production of substantially enantiomerically pure products from prochiral starting material with the catalyst. The BEA topology zeolite may be a BETA zeolite, an acid BEA topology zeolite, an acid NU-2 zeolite, or an ammonium BEA topology zeolite. The metal in the metal-binap complex is ruthenium, iridium, nickel, or rhodium. The zeolite is normally impregnated with a solution of the metal-binap complex. The method is applicable to asymmetric hydrogenation of beta functionalized ketones, betaketoesters, functionalized olefins, and .alpha., .beta.-unsaturated functionalized olefins.

Abstract: The invention concerns a process for the selective hydroisomerisation of compounds containing at least one n-alkane chain containing more than 10 carbon atoms, in which the compound to be treated is brought into contact with a catalyst comprising at least one hydro-dehydrogenating element and at least one molecular sieve with a mono- or bidimensional pore network in which the openings of the accessible pores are delimited by 10 oxygen atoms, and the distance termed the bridge width between the pores is less than 0.70 nm, and in which the catalyst, when subjected to a standard n-heptadecane isomerization test, has a selectivity of at least 70% towards isomerized products for a conversion of 95%.The sieve is preferably a NU-10, NU-23, NU-87, EU-13 or Theta-1 zeolite.