Abstract: Among other things, this disclosure provides an olefin oligomerization system and process, the system comprising: a) a transition metal compound; b) a pyrrole compound having a hydrogen atom on at the 5-position or the 2- and 5-position of a pyrrole compound and having a bulky substituent located on each carbon atom adjacent to the carbon atom bearing a hydrogen atom at the 5-position or the 2- and 5-position of a pyrrole compound. These catalyst system have significantly improved productivities, selectivities to 1-hexene, and provides higher purity 1-hexene within the C6 fraction than catalyst systems using 2,4-dimethyl pyrrole.

Abstract: A process for the synthesis of linear ?,?-diolefins from an allylic substrate comprises the steps of a) forming the bis-Grignard reagent XMgCH2(CH2)nCH2MgX from an ?,?-acyclic dihalide with X being a halogen; b) preparing a solution comprising an allylic substrate and a copper catalyst; c) catalyzing a coupling reaction by adding to the solution of step (b) the bis-Grignard reagent of step (a); and d) isolating and purifying the ?,?-olefin coupling reaction product.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a continuous process for preparing levulinic acid from starch in a reactive extrusion process. In a preferred embodiment, the extrusion takes place in a twin-screw extruder having a plurality of temperature zones wherein the starch slurry is preconditioned, extruded, filter pressed, reboiled, vacuum distilled, condensed, centrifuged, whereby the waste effluent from the centrifugation is reprocessed upstream to the preconditioning stage.

Abstract: A method for producing cyclopentadienes which comprises the step of cyclodehydration of an unsaturated carbonyl compound having a specific chemical structure in a vapor phase in the presence of a specific solid acid catalyst. The cyclopentadienes of the invention can be produced in a high yield from inexpensive starting materials through a simplified reaction process and are useful as intermediate compounds for organic synthesis.