Patent ID: 7220888

Claim:
A process for preparing hydrocarbons having an altered carbon skeleton by reacting aliphatic hydrocarbons of the formula III R 1 —H a.) with themselves, b.) with another aliphatic hydrocarbon of the formula III′ R 1 —H or c.) with aromatic alkyl-substituted hydrocarbons of the formula II, at from 20 to 400° C. and a pressure of from 0.2 to 100 bar in the presence of an organometallic catalyst or hydride thereof and in the presence of hydrogen, where R 1 and R 1′ are different C 2 –C 20 alkyl-substituents and R 2 is C 1 –C 4 -alkyl, with the proviso that the alkyl radical R 2 has a lower or, in the case of a different degree of branching, the same number of carbon atoms than/as the alkyl radicals R 1.