Palmitic Acid → Pentadecane

Participants

Reaction Steps

A drum provided with a distillation system is successively fed with 50 g of palmitic acid, 10 g of dry Raney nickel in cyclohexane and 870 mg of tetrabutyl tin. The mixture is slowly heated while distilling the cyclohexane and passing a hydrogen stream, the drum being brought to a temperature of 300°-310° C. A liquid product distills at 210°-230° C. At time intervals, additional amounts of palmitic acid, totalling 150 g, are injected into the drum, while distilling progressively a product which, as shown by VPC analysis, consists mainly of a mixture of differently positioned isomers of linear pentadecene, comprising about 60% of 1-pentadecene. Some pentadecane has formed. The C15 olefin weight is 63.5 g; the selectivity to C15 olefin is 69% with respect to the converted acid.

Provenance & Evidence