ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,459,881, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to Evonik Operations GmbH (Essen, Germany).
"Method for the preparation of 1,2-propanediol" was invented by Holger Wiederhold (Darmstadt, Germany) and David Bolz (Frankfurt, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for preparing 1,2-propanediol involves reacting propene with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a catalyst mixture, containing a phase transfer catalyst and a heteropolytungstate, in a liquid reaction mixture containing an aqueous phase with a maximum apparent pH of 6 and an organic phase. The method then involves separating the reaction mixture into an aqueous phase (Pa), contai...