Highly Selective Formation of n-Butanol from Ethanol through the Guerbet Process: A Tandem Catalytic Approach.

A highly selective (>99%) tandem catalytic system for the conversion of ethanol (up to 37%) to n-butanol, through the Guerbet process, has been developed using a bifunctional iridium catalyst coupled with bulky nickel or 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. Iridium-mediated dehydrogenation of ethanol to acetaldehyde has led to the development of an ethanol-to-butanol process operated at a lower temperature.