Study on the selective hydrogenation of isophorone

3,3,5-Trimethylcyclohexanone (TMCH) is an important pharmaceutical intermediate and organic solvent, which has important industrial significance. The selective hydrogenation of isophorone was studied over noble metal (Pd/C, Pt/C, Ir/C, Ru/C, Pd/SiO2, Pt/SiO2, Ir/SiO2, Ru/SiO2), and non-noble metal (RANEY® Ni, RANEY® Co, RANEY® Cu, RANEY® Fe, Ni/SiO2, Co/SiO2, Cu/SiO2, Fe/SiO2) catalysts and using solvent-free and solvent based synthesis. The results show that the solvent has an important effect on the selectivity of TMCH. The selective hydrogenation of isophorone to TMCH can be influenced by the tetrahydrofuran solvent. The conversion of isophorone is 100%, and the yield of 3,3,5-trimethylcyclohexanone is 98.1% under RANEY® Ni and THF. The method was applied to the selective hydrogenation of isopropylidene acetone, benzylidene acetone and 6-methyl-5-ene-2-heptanone. The structures of the hydrogenation product target (4-methylpentan-2-one, 4-benzylbutan-2-one and 6-methyl-heptane-2-one) were characterized using 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. The yields of 4-methylpentan-2-one, 4-benzylbutan-2-one and 6-methyl-heptane-2-one were 97.2%, 98.5% and 98.2%, respectively. The production cost can be reduced by using RANEY® metal instead of noble metal palladium. This method has good application prospects.