Catalytic hydrogenation of dicyclopentadiene to dicyclopentene in the liquid phase

A new use for dicyclopentadiene has been proposed in the area of preparation of oxygen-containing compounds, including those with a cage structure, the key stage of which is the selective liquid-phase hydrogenation of dicyclopentadiene to dicyclopentene with hydrogen over finely divided hydrogenation catalysts based on platinum group metals. The process proceeds under mild conditions at atmospheric pressure. Conditions providing a yield of 92% for the desired product with an almost complete conversion of the reactant dicyclopentadiene have been determined in the study of the hydrogenation reaction in both a volumetric device of the closed type and a continuous-flow system.