Coupled condensation—hydrogenation processing of ethyl methyl ketone to 5-methylheptan-3-one on Pd/C catalyst

The features of the coupled aldol condensation—hydrogenation processing of ethyl methyl ketone on a Pd/activated carbon catalyst were studied. The phase and chemical composition of activated carbon, as well as the carbon based catalyst, were studied using powder X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. We established the influence of the reaction temperature, palladium mass content, contact time, and H2/EtC(O)Me molar ratio on the main parameters of the process, namely, on the conversion of the starting EtC(O)Me and the selectivity of the formation of 5-methylheptan-3-one and 3-methylheptane. The optimal process conditions were selected (0.3 wt.% of palladium, 300 °C, contact time 17 s, a 1.25 H2/EtC(O)Me molar ratio), allowing to achieve a 96% total selectivity for the target products.