2220. MERTZWEILLER, J. K., AND OWEN, J. J. Synthesis of Oxygenated Organic Compounds. United States Patent 2,560,360, July 10, 1951; appl. filed June 11, 1947, Serial No. 753,978; 15 claims (Cl. 260-632). Chem. Abs., vol. 45, 1951, p. 8743.

Process is described for utilizing as starting materials in the Oxo process the olefins synthetically produced by the catalytic conversion of CO with H₂ over Fe catalyst. Difficulties have arisen in connection with this use of synthetic olefins because of the presence of certain acidic materials introduced into these olefins by the original synthesis reaction. It has now been found that this difficulty can be removed by treating these synthetic olefins at 50°-300° F. with an alkaline solution of about 3-15% NaOH and then contacting them as usual with CO and H₂ in the presence of an oxygenation catalyst to produce oxygenated compounds. The oxygenation process is performed in the presence of an Fe-type catalyst, at 500°-800° F., 5-50 atm. pressure and in synthesis proportions of about 0.5-3 vol. H₂ per vol. CO.