A method of producing a purified mixed xylene comprising: introducing toluene and methanol to an alkylation reactor (32); reacting the toluene and the methanol in the alkylation reactor (32) to form a hydrocarbon stream (22) comprising a first mixed xylene, wherein the alkylation reactor (32) comprises an alkylation catalyst; separating the hydrocarbon stream (22) into a toluene stream (24) and a separated C.sub.8+ stream (14); introducing the toluene stream (24) to a transalkylation reactor (38) with a transalkylation catalyst to produce a transalkylated stream (17) comprising a second mixed xylene; adding the transalkylated stream (17) to the hydrocarbon stream (22); and separating a C.sub.8 product stream (19) comprising the purified mixed xylene from the separated C.sub.8+ stream (14).

Methods are provided for forming aromatic compounds from a highly unsaturated aliphatic feeds optionally in combination with methanol. The method can include dehydrogenating a feed containing at least about 50 vol % C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkanes under dehydrogenation conditions to form a dehydrogenation effluent containing at least about 25 vol % alkynes. Alternatively, other sources of alkyne-containing feeds can be used. At least a portion of the alkyne-containing feed can then be converted under effective conversion conditions to form a conversion effluent comprising a hydrocarbon product containing aromatic compounds.

The invention provides compounds of general structure I: (Ar.sup.1—Ar.sup.2—Ar.sup.3-E-P(=D)R.sub.2-).sub.nM.sub.mX.sub.nL.sub.n″. In this structure: •Ar.sup.1, Ar.sup.2 and Ar.sup.3 are aromatic groups wherein: —Ar.sup.1 and Ar.sup.3 are in a 1,3 relationship on Ar.sup.2, —each of Ar.sup.1, Ar.sup.2 and Ar.sup.3 optionally comprises one or more ring substituents of formula YR′.sub.r wherein each Y independently is absent or is O, S, B, N or Si and each R′ is independently H, halogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or heteroaryl and r is 1, 2 or 3, where r is 1 if Y is absent or is O or S, 2 if Y is B or N and 3 if Y is Si, —Ar.sup.1, Ar.sup.2 and Ar.sup.3 are each independently carbocyclic or heterocyclic and each is independently monocyclic, bicyclic or polycyclic and each ring of each of Ar.sup.1, Ar.sup.2 and Ar.sup.3 independently has 5, 6 or 7 ring atoms; •E is absent or is selected from the group consisting of O, S, NR″, SiR″.sub.2, AsR″.sub.2 and CR″.sub.2; •M is a complexing metal; •X is selected from the group consisting of H, F, Br, CI, I, OTf, dba (dibenzylidene acetone), OC(═O)CF.sub.3 and OAc; •L is selected from the group consisting of PR″.sub.2, NR″.sub.2, OR″, SR″, SiR″.sub.3, AsR″.sub.3, alkene, alkyne, aryl and heteroaryl, each of said alkene, alkyne, aryl and heteroaryl being optionally substituted, for example with one or more halogens and/or with one or more R groups as defined herein; •each R is independently alkyl, cycloalkyl, heterocyclyl, heterocycloalkyl, aryl or -, heteroaryl; •D is absent or is ═S or —O or —Z-linker-Z—, where each Z independently is O or NH or N-alkyl and linker is an alkyl chain of 2-5 carbon atoms in length; •each R″ is independently H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, aryl or heteroaryl, each other than H being optionally substituted, or R″.sub.2 is —Z-linker-Z— as defined above; and •m is 0 or 1 or 2; wherein if m is 0, n is 1, n′ and n″ are 0 and -- is absent; and if m is 1 or 2, n is 1 or 2 and n′ and n″ are integers such that the coordination sphere of M is filled, and D is absent.

A long life catalyst is provided that is conveniently and inexpensively capable of being produced and that is highly active and has inhibited metal leakage. According to aspects of the present invention, a catalyst is provided that includes: a polymer including a plurality of first structural units and a plurality of second structural units; and metal acting as a catalytic center, wherein at least part of the metal is covered with the polymer, each of the plurality of first structural units has a first atom constituting a main chain of the polymer and a first substituent group bonded to the first atom, a second atom included in each of the plurality of second structural units is bonded to the first atom, and the second atom is different from the first atom, or at least one of all substituent groups on the second atom is different from the first substituent group.

Disclosed are mono-substituted cyclopentadienes, metal cyclopentadienyl complexes and methods for synthesizing them. The disclosed mono-substituted cyclopentadienes are synthesized by a selective catalytic carbon-carbon coupling reaction. The disclosed metal cyclopentadienyl complexes are synthesized from the disclosed mono-substituted cyclopentadienes. The disclosed metal cyclopentadienyl complexes include main group metal and transition metal cyclopentadienyl complexes, and may be used as deposition precursors contained in film forming compositions for film depositions in semiconductor industry, such as ALD, CVD, SOD, etc.

Disclosed are mono-substituted cyclopentadienes, metal cyclopentadienyl complexes and methods for synthesizing them. The disclosed mono-substituted cyclopentadienes are synthesized by a selective catalytic carbon-carbon coupling reaction. The disclosed metal cyclopentadienyl complexes are synthesized from the disclosed mono-substituted cyclopentadienes. The disclosed metal cyclopentadienyl complexes include main group metal and transition metal cyclopentadienyl complexes, and may be used as deposition precursors contained in film forming compositions for film depositions in semiconductor industry, such as ALD, CVD, SOD, etc.

A solid-supported catalyst ligand which chelates palladium (II) species to form a complex that functions as a heterogeneous catalyst that is stable and can be recycled without significantly losing any catalytic activity in a variety of chemical transformations, a method for producing the solid-supported catalyst ligand and a method for catalyzing a palladium cross-coupling reaction, such as the Suzuki-Miyaura, Mizoroki-Heck, and Sonagashira reactions.

A method of implementing organic synthesis reactions uses a composition containing a metal catalyst originating from a calcined plant. The plants can be from the Brassicaceae, Sapotaceae and Convolvulaceae family, and the metal catalyst contains metal in the M(II) form such as zinc, nickel, manganese, lead, cadmium, calcium, magnesium or copper. Examples of the organic synthesis reactions include halogenations, electrophilic reactions, cycloadditions, transesterification reactions and coupling reactions, among others.

The present disclosure describes a method of coupling a first compound to a second compound, the method comprising: providing the first compound having a fluorosulfonate substituent; providing the second compound comprising an alkene; and reacting the first compound and the second compound in a reaction mixture, the reaction mixture including a catalyst having at least one group 10 atom, the reaction mixture under conditions effective to couple the first compound to the second compound.

In a process for producing para-xylene, a feed stream comprising C.sub.6+ aromatic hydrocarbons is separated into a toluene-containing stream, a C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and a C.sub.9+ aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream. The toluene-containing stream is contacted with a methylating agent to convert toluene to xylenes and produce a methylated effluent stream. Para-xylene is recovered from the C.sub.8 aromatic hydrocarbon-containing stream and the methylated effluent stream in a para-xylene recovery section to produce a para-xylene depleted stream, which is then contacted with a xylene isomerization catalyst under liquid phase conditions effective to isomerize xylenes in the para-xylene depleted stream and produce an isomerized stream. The C.sub.9+-containing stream with a transalkylation catalyst under conditions effective to convert C.sub.9+-aromatics to C.sub.8−-aromatics and produce a transalkylated stream, which is recycled together with the isomerized stream to the para-xylene recovery section.