Acceptorless dehydrogenation of alcohols and N-heterocycles has been reported for a number of transition metal catalysts. Here, we report on a highly selective (&gt;99%) tandem catalytic process for the conversion of ethanol (up to 37%) to n-butanol using the Guerbet process. Effective catalyst systems have been developed using a bifunctional iridium catalyst coupled with bulky nickel and copper hydroxides. These sterically crowded nickel and copper hydroxides catalyze the key aldol coupling reaction of acetaldehyde to exclusively yield the C4 coupling product, crotonaldehyde. The role of each catalyst in different steps of the Guerbet reaction has been demonstrated by control experiments. Iridium-mediated dehydrogenation of ethanol to acetaldehyde has been directly observed by 1H NMR spectroscopy and this has led to the development of an ethanol-to-butanol process operated at a lower temperature.

New tandem catalytic route for conversion of ethanol to butanol

251st National Meeting (2016)

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