Patent ID: 7572940

Claim:
A process for producing 2-perfluoroalkylethyl alcohol, which comprises: a first sulfation step of bringing of bring 2-perfluoroalkylethyl iodide represented by the following formula: RfCH 2 CH 2 I (wherein Rf is a linear perfluoroalkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, this definition of Rf is also applied to formulas below), into contact with fuming sulfuric acid to obtain a first sulfation reaction mixture comprising 2-perfluoroalkylethyl sulfate represented by the following formula: RfCH 2 CH 2 OSO 2 OH and bis(2-perfluoroalkylethyl) sulfate as a by-product represented by the following formula: Rf 1 CH 2 CH 2 OSO 2 OCH 2 CH 2 Rf 2 (wherein Rf 1 and Rf 2 are a linear perfluoroalkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms which may be the same or different from each other, this definition of Rf 1 and Rf 2 is also applied to formulas below); a first hydrolysis step of hydrolyzing 2-perfluoroalkylethyl sulfate produced in the first sulfation step to obtain a first hydrolysis reaction mixture comprising 2-perfluoroalkylethyl alcohol represented by the following formula: RfCH 2 CH 2 OH; a second sulfation step of bringing bis(2-perfluoroalkylethyl) sulfate produced in the first sulfation step into contact with fuming sulfuric acid to obtain a second sulfation reaction mixture comprising 2-perfluoroalkylethyl sulfate represented by the following formulas: Rf 1 CH 2 CH 2 OSO 2 OH and Rf 2 CH 2 CH 2 OSO 2 OH; and a second hydrolysis step of hydrolyzing 2-perfluoroalkylethyl sulfate produced in the second sulfation step to obtain a second hydrolysis reaction mixture comprising thus produced 2-perfluoroalkylethyl alcohol represented by the following formulas: Rf 1 CH 2 CH 2 OH and Rf 2 CH 2 CH 2 OH; wherein the first and the second sulfation steps are separate steps from each other, and the first and the second hydrolysis steps are separate steps from each other.