“…Keggin-type HPAs such as PMo, PW, and SiW catalyze the cyclotrimerization of aldehydes, such as ethanal, propanal, butanal, 2-methylpropanal, etc., to produce 2,4,6,-trialkyl-1,3,5-trioxanes in high yields (eq 17), as reported by Sato et al. ,
Catalyst turnover number is more than 10 000 for the propanal cyclotrimerization. At high conversions of aldehyde, the reaction mixture spontaneously separates into two phases, a product phase and a catalyst phase, which, depending on aldehyde can be solid or liquid.…”