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Towards a Sustainable Synthesis of Oxymethylene Dimethyl Ether by Homogeneous Catalysis and Uptake of Molecular Formaldehyde |
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| Authors: | Andreas Peter Samuel M. Fehr Valentin Dybbert Dr. Daniel Himmel Ines Lindner Dr. Eberhard Jacob Mohamed Ouda Dr. Achim Schaadt Dr. Robin J. White Dr. Harald Scherer Prof. Dr. Ingo Krossing |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry and Materials Research Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany;2. Motors Emissions Concepts UG, Krailling, Germany;3. Sustainable Catalytic Materials Group, Division Hydrogen Technologies, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Freiburg, Germany |
| Abstract: | Oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OMEn; CH3(‐OCH2‐)nO‐CH3, n=3–5) are a novel class of sustainable synthetic fuels, which are of increasing interest due to their soot‐free combustion. Herein a novel anhydrous OMEn synthesis route is presented. Catalyzed by trimethyloxonium salts, dimethoxymethane takes up monomeric gaseous formaldehyde instantaneously and forms high purity OMEn at temperatures of 25–30 °C. This new anhydrous approach using molecular formaldehyde and catalytic amounts of highly active trimethyloxonium salts represents a promising new step towards a sustainable formation of OMEn emanating from CO2 and H2. |
| Keywords: | homogeneous catalysis molecular formaldehyde NMR spectroscopy oxymethylene dimethyl ethers weakly coordinating anions |