Acetaldehyde as an ethanol derived bio-building block: an alternative to Guerbet chemistry

In this work, we describe a highly selective poly-aldol condensation of acetaldehyde, which can readily be obtained via dehydrogenation of ethanol. The process operates under mild temperatures (100 degrees C or less) using commercially available catalysts and exhibits excellent total carbon yield of C4+ products with good selectivity for C-6 products. The products derived from the reactions described herein are shown to be candidate drop-in fuel replacements for compression ignition engines and precursors to valuable chemicals.