Triptane (2,2,3-trimethylbutane), a hydrocarbon with great potential as a fuel (RON = 112), can be obtained by dehydrative oligomerization of methanol or dimethyl ether.  This transformation is catalyzed either homogeneously, using soluble ZnI2 or InI3, or heterogeneously, over acidic zeolites such as H-BEA, under relatively mild conditions (around 200 �C).  Studies carried out at Caltech (homogeneous catalysts) and in the Iglesia lab at UC Berkeley (heterogeneous catalysts), which establish that a carbocation-based mechanism operates in both systems and fully accounts for the remarkable selectivity (up to 20% yield on a total carbon basis) to a single C7 isomer from a C1 precursor, will be presented and compared.  Additional features of this chemistry, particularly the ability to upgrade light alkanes to more valuable heavier ones by methylative homologation, will also be discussed.

Selective homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic conversion of methanol/dimethyl ether to triptane

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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