Olefin dismutation: Reactions of olefins on cobalt oxide-molybdenum oxide-alumina

Abstract

A study of the conversion of n-butenes into olefins of lower and higher carbon number (“dismutation”) on catalysts containing cobalt, molybdenum, and aluminum oxides has shown that the product spectrum is markedly affected by doublebond isomerization which accompanies the dismutation, and that the reaction may be made highly selective for the production of either ethylene plus hexene-3, or propylene plus n-pentenes, by suitable choice of the reaction conditions or by poisoning the catalyst with controlled amounts of sodium ion. ∗ ∗ British Patent applied for, 42700/64. The reaction has been shown to be reversible, † † British Patent applied for, 47053/64. e.g., ethylene and butene-2 react to give propylene with a selectivity of over 90%. The cleavage of internal olefins by ethylene to give 1-olefins of lower carbon number is a useful general reaction (“ethenolysis”). The results of this study of the dismutation of various olefins suggest that the reaction must proceed via a “quasi-cyclobutane” intermediate.