Patent ID: 7368622

Claim:
A process in two steps for the preparation of 1-octene starting from butadiene which comprises: a first step (a) in which the bis-hydrodimerization of butadiene to 1,7-octadiene is effected in the presence of a catalyst based on a palladium complex containing one or more tri-substituted monodentate phosphines, in an aprotic polar solvent optionally containing an organic base; the above first step being carried out in the presence of a hydrogen donor; a second step (b) in which the partial catalytic hydrogenation of 1,7-octadiene, recovered at the end of the first step, to 1-octene, is effected; the above hydrogenation being carried out in an inert solvent, under hydrogen pressure or mixtures of hydrogen and nitrogen, in the presence of a catalyst; the above process being characterized in that: (i) in the first step the aprotic polar solvent is selected from disubstituted cyclic ureas having general formula (I) wherein n ranges from 1 to 8; R 1 and R 2 , the same or different, are selected from H and a C 1 -C 6 alkyl radical; R 3 and R 4 , the same or different, are selected from C 1 -C 16 alkyl radicals; (ii) in the second step the catalyst is selected from non-supported ruthenium complexes having general formula (II): RuX m L n (II) wherein: X is selected from Cl, Br, I, CH 3 COO, H, ═C(H)Ph; L is selected from monodentate or bidentate neutral ligands; m ranges from 1 to 3; n ranges from 2 to 4.