Patent ID: 8143457

Claim:
A process of refining a crude C 6 -C 16 aliphatic diol comprising distilling one or more times a crude C 6 -C 16 aliphatic diol that comprises a monocyclic aliphatic diol represented by the following formula: wherein each R 1 is independently selected from hydrogen, hydroxy, and C 1 -C 6 monovalent hydrocarbyl radicals; each R 2 is independently selected from hydrogen, hydroxy, and C 1 -C 6 hydrocarbyl radicals; n is an integer from 0 to 6; k is an integer from 0 to 6; n+k is greater than 2; and each m is independently an integer from 0 to 3, and further comprising, in addition to the diol, one or more impurities selected from phenols and aliphatic mono-ols, esters, carboxylic acids, and hemiacetals, and mixtures thereof, in the presence of an alkali metal compound and/or an alkaline earth metal compound under distillation conditions sufficient to obtain a purified C 6 -C 16 aliphatic diol.