CATALYTIC OLIGOMERIZATION OF FATTY DERIVATIVES

A new catalytic reaction is presented to oligomerize conjugated fatty acids or esters under mild reaction conditions. Metal salts such as tin dichloride, tin tetrachloride, titanium tetrachloride or iron trichloride are used as catalysts, and yields of oligomers of 70% are reached. In particular, a bimetallic catalyst system of molybdenum pentachloride and tin dichloride proved to be highly active. Especially remarkable is the distribution of the oligomers: Instead of a Schulz-Flory-distribution with dimers as main products a Poisson-distribution is formed with trimers as most important oligomers.