Arntz, D; Achin, F; Höpp, M; Jacobi, S; Sauer, J; Ohara, T; Sato, T; Shimizu, N; Schwind, H;
Acrolein [107-02-8], propenal, acrylaldehyde, CH2¼CH-CHO, the simplest unsaturated aldehyde, is a colorless, volatile, toxic, and lacrimatory liquid with a powerful odor. Acrolein (Latin: acer - acrid, oleum ¼ oil) was discovered 1843 by Redtenbacher in overheated fat [1].
The commercial production of acrolein by heterogeneously catalyzed gas-phase condensation of acetaldehyde and formaldehyde was established by Degussa in 1942. Today, acrolein is produced on a large commercial scale by heterogeneously catalyzed gas-phase oxidation of propene.
Acrolein is an important intermediate for numerous substances (see Chap. 6). The main use of commercial, isolated acrolein is the production of D,L-methionine [2], an essential amino acid used as an animal feed supplement. In the production of acrylic acid, acrolein is not isolated from the gas-phase reaction mixture but is oxidized further on a heterogeneous catalyst. The produced amount of nonisolated acrolein
exceeds the amount of isolated acrolein by far. Less important is the production of special chemicals from acrolein. Several review articles [3–9] (see also [92]) and a monograph [10] describe the preparation, reactions, and uses of acrolein. Methacrolein [78-85-3], 2-methylpropenal, a-methylacrolein, CH2¼C(CH3)-CHO, is a colorless, volatile, toxic, and lacrimatory liquid with a piercing odor. It is an intermediate in one of the processes for the production of methyl methacrylate (see Section 3.2).
Elvers, B; Hawklins, S; Schulz, G