To provide a method for hydrogenating a dicarboxylic acid compound at two stages, by which the corresponding alcohol and the cyclic ether are obtained in high yields, by hydrogenating the dicarboxylic acid in the presence of a catalyst containing a specific metal to produce the reaction mixture containing a lactone compound and further hydrogenating the reaction mixture in the presence of a copper-containing catalyst.
This method for hydrogenating a dicarboxylic acid at two stages comprises hydrogenating (A) the dicarboxylic acid and/or the dicarboxylic anhydride, such as succinic anhydride or maleic anhydride in the presence of (B) a catalyst containing a metal, preferably palladium, selected from the metals in the group VIII and a metal, preferably rhenium, silver or tungsten, selected from metals in the groups IB, VIB and VIIB to produce the reaction mixture containing a lactone, and further hydrogenating the reaction mixture in the presence of (C) a copper-containing catalyst (for example, copper zinc chromate catalyst) to produce the dialcohol and/or the cyclic ether. In the reactions, the hydrogenation pressures are preferably the atmospheric pressure to 10 MPa at a temperature of 120 to 300°C.
SUZUKI SADAKATSU
HAMASHIMA NAGATO
ISHIHARA TAKESHI
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