Patent 7109379 was granted and assigned to National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology on September, 2006 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An oily solution of water-insoluble aliphatic alcohol is allowed to react with an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution in the presence of a catalyst containing a metal compound belonging to Group 8 to 10 of the Periodic Table in a heterogeneous solution system. As a result, a carbonyl compound can be produced from an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution under mild conditions in high yield. Also, the reaction operation is simple and easy, a step for removing solvent after completion of the reaction is not necessary and influence and toxicity upon the environment and human body are markedly small. Thus, a carbonyl compound can be produced safely, simply and efficiently.