Cascade engineered synthesis of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol from n -butanal and 2-methyl-1-pentanol from n -propanal using combustion synthesized Cu/Mg/Al mixed metal oxide trifunctional catalyst

Abstract

2-Ethyl-1-hexanol (2-EH) is a commercially important chemical that requires cost effective catalytic processes for synthesis. The cascade engineered synthesis of 2-EH was done in a single pot from n-butanal using solventless conditions with trifunctional mixed metal oxide containing 5% Cu and Mg/Al ratio of 3. This trifunctional catalyst was made by combustion synthesis technique which resulted in a porous network with narrow pore size distribution. The catalyst was characterized before and after reuse by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, CO₂-TPD, NH₃-TPD, TPR, TGA and nitrogen BET analysis. The kinetics of reaction and selectivity profile of 2-EH are reported. The work was extended to one pot cascade engineered synthesis of 2-methyl-1-pentanol (2-MP) from n-propanal using the same catalyst. There was a significant effect of molecular size on rate of reaction and selectivity of the product. This is the first ever report on the one pot synthesis of 2-MP from n-propanal.