Patent ID: 7608747

Claim:
A process for the selective ring opening of ring-containing hydrocarbons in a feed stream containing at least about 10% by weight of at least one ring-containing hydrocarbon, said process comprising: contacting the feed stream in a reaction zone with a ring opening catalyst in the presence of hydrogen under selective ring opening reaction conditions, wherein the ring opening catalyst contains at least one metal active for the selective ring opening of the ring-containing hydrocarbon on a first support material, wherein the first support material includes a noncrystalline, porous inorganic oxide or mixture of inorganic oxides having at least 97 volume percent of interconnected mesopores based on micropores and mesopores and having an X-ray diffraction pattern including one peak in 2-theta between 0.5 degrees and 2.5 degrees, and wherein said at least one ring-containing hydrocarbon has at least one C 6 ring and at least 3 carbon atoms contained in one or more substituents attached to the C 6 ring wherein the substituents are selected from the groups consisting fused 5-membered or 6-membered rings, alkyl, cycloalkyl and aryl groups.