Patent ID: 8609923

Claim:
A process for the production of a mixture of structural isomers of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, the process comprising: a) oligomerizing an olefin or a mixture of olefins having the structural formula C n-2 H 2n-3 —CH═CH 2 , wherein n is an integer from 4 to 22, in the presence of an oligomerization catalyst, so as to form a vinylidene containing olefin oligomer; b) hydroformylating the vinylidene containing olefin oligomer in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst so as to form a hydroformylated olefin oligomer; c) dimerizing the hydroformylated olefin oligomer by means of a Guerbet reaction so as to form the alcohol; and d) catalytically hydrogenating the alcohol in step c) so as to form the mixture of structural isomers of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having the structural formula: wherein R 1 , R 4 , and R 5 are the same or different alkyl groups, R 2 and R 3 are the same or different methylene chains, and each contain from 1 to 23 carbon atoms according to the following schedule: C# of the alkyl chains Isomer # R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 AA n n − 1 n − 3 n 1 AB n n − 1 n − 1 n − 2 1 BA n − 2 n + 1 n − 3 n 1 BB n − 2 n + 1 n − 1 n − 2 1 CA n n − 3 2 n n − 2 CB n − 2 n − 1 2 n n − 2 and wherein the percentage of each isomer is greater than 1% and less than 95%, n being an integer from 4 to 22.