Maleic Anhydride → Gamma-Butyrolactone

Participants

Reaction Steps

A commercially available 2% Pd catalyst on 4 mm carbon extrudates is doped with 0.5% Re by treating it in a perrhenic acid solution whose pH is adjusted to 10.5 with sodium hydroxide before introducing the catalyst to the solution. The treatment continued until no rhenium remained in the rhenium solution. Maleic anhydride is hydrogenated in the presence of the catalyst as described in Application Example 1 (infra) yielding 10.5% gamma-butyrolactone, 0.0% tetrahydrofuran and 0.0% 1.4-butanediol after a reaction time of 5 hours.

Provenance & Evidence