Patent ID: 7304185

Claim:
A process for the production of carbonyl compounds, characterized by reacting a diol represented by the formula (1); wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are the same or different, and independently represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted acyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxycarbonyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryloxycarbonyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyloxycarbonyl group, carboxyl group or a hydrogen atom, or R 1 and R 2 or R 3 and R 4 are bonded together with the carbon atoms to which they are bonded to form a ring, provided that all of R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are not hydrogen atoms simultaneously; with bromine or an inorganic bromine compound in the presence of a trivalent bismuth compound and a base, wherein the base is an alkali metal carbonate or alkali metal hydroxide, to form carbonyl compounds represented by the formula (2): wherein R 1 and R 3 are as defined above; and the formula (3): wherein R 2 and R 4 are as defined above, and mixing previously a portion of the diol represented by the formula (1), the bismuth compound and the base, and adding the remaining diol represented by the formula (1) and bromine or the inorganic bromine compound to the resulting mixture simultaneously.