The instant disclosure provides a process for synthesis of compound of Formula:

X.sub.a- M.sup.z+-Y.sub.b,

wherein M.sup.z+ is a transition metal ion and X and Y are carboxylate anions. The catalysts are hydrocarbon soluble and the process for their preparation, as disclosed herein, constitutes an elegant method for the preparation of such catalysts.

The present invention relates to a selective reduction of specific aldehydes and ketones to their corresponding alcohols.

A method for C—H bond activation and/or C—N coupling reaction comprises using a metal catalyst to catalyze the C—H bond activation and/or C—N coupling reaction; wherein the metal catalyst represented by the following formula a metal catalyst for C—H bond activation and/or C—N coupling reaction, and a method using the same and application thereof. Specifically, a metal catalyst represented by the following formula:

##STR00001## wherein Q is a 5 or 6 membered aromatic ring; W, X, and Y are the same or different, and are independently N, S, P, or O; M is Ni, Pd, Fe, Co, Cr, Mn, Cu, Pt, Ir, or Ru; Z is halide (F, Cl, Br, or I), acetate, water, or hydroxyl; R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are the same or different, and are independently alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl or cycloalkyl.

In one aspect, oligomeric and polymeric species are described herein exhibiting new architectures and associated properties. In some embodiments, such species are synthesized by oligomerization or polymerization of diene monomer via cycloaddition in the presence of a transition metal complex. Oligomers described herein, for example, comprise cyclobutane units in the oligomer backbone. Similarly, a polymers described herein comprise cyclobutane units in the polymer backbone.

Disclosed is catalyst composition, a process for preparing the catalyst composition, and a use of the catalyst composition. The catalyst composition comprises 1 wt % to 4 wt % of free azacarbene, 1 wt % to 2 wt % of azacarbene iron, 15 wt % to 30 wt % of a phase transfer catalyst, 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a hydrogen donor, 5 wt % to 10 wt % of phosphoric acid, 0.5 wt % to 1 wt % of emulsifier, with the rest being solvent. This disclosure also provides a process for preparing the catalyst composition, comprising: mixing the free azacarbene and the azacarbene iron with the solvent according to a ratio, then adding and mixing the phase transfer catalyst and the hydrogen donor, then adding and mixing the phosphoric acid and the emulsifier to obtain the catalyst composition. The beneficial effect of this disclosure is: only less azacarbene iron and free azacarbene are needed to achieve rapid and efficient viscosity reduction of heavy oil.

The present disclosure relates to a new catalytic process for the production of methanol from carbon dioxide, comprising: (1) the conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen to formic acid or formate salts; (2) converting the formic acid or formate salts to diformate esters of diols; (3) hydrogenating the diformate esters to methanol and diols. The diols produced from the hydrogenation reaction can be recovered and re-used to prepare the diformate esters.

The present invention is directed to catalytic compositions and to curable compositions containing them. Catalytic compositions of the present invention consist essentially of: (i) a metal compound; and (ii) a compound different from (i) that catalyzes an addition reaction between an ethylenically unsaturated compound and a thiol, wherein said catalytic composition is essentially free of vanadium compounds. Curable compositions according to the present invention comprise: (a) a polyene, (b) a polythiol, and (c) a catalytic component, which consists of the afore-mentioned catalytic composition.

Disclosed are a pincer-type ligand having a structurally rigid acridane structure and a metal complex consisting of the pincer-type ligand and a metal bound to each other, and exhibiting high reactivity and stability during a variety of bonding activation reactions. T-shaped complexes can be prepared from .sup.acriPNP(4,5-bis(diisopropylphosphino)-2,7,9,9-tetramethyl-9H-acrid in-10-ide), which is a pincer-type PNP ligand having an acridane structure, and metal complexes, which can be structurally rigid and thus exhibit excellent reactivity and stability based on minimized structural change thereof, can be prepared by introducing an acridane structure into the backbone thereof. The PNP ligand is structurally stable and has novel chemical properties, as compared to conventional similar ligands, and thus can be utilized in a wide range of catalytic reactions and material chemistry.

A method for making a fuel includes reacting a conjugated diene or a mixture of conjugated dienes with a catalyst selected from the group consisting of a low valent iron catalyst stabilized with a pyridineimine ligand, an iron precatalyst coordinated to the pyridineimine ligand that is activated with a reducing agent, a low oxidation state Fe complex stabilized with a pyridineimine ligand and a coordinating ligand, and combinations thereof, thereby forming a substituted cyclooctadiene. The substituted cyclooctadiene is then hydrogenated, thereby forming cyclooctane fuel.

The present invention relates to the field of catalytic hydrogenation and, more particularly, to methods of manganese-catalysed hydrogenation of esters to alcohols. Advantageously, where the esters are chiral, the hydrogenations proceed with high or complete stereochemical integrity.