Functionalized cyclopentene-derived oligomer mixtures are prepared by reacting oligomer mixtures which contain ethyleneic double bonds in one or more reaction steps starting from cyclopentene-derived oligomer mixtures of the formula I where n is an integer from 1 to 15, and R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are, independently of one another, hydrogen or alkyl, and are used as described.

A process for the hydroformylation of olefinically unsaturated compounds whose hydroformylation products are insoluble or only sparingly soluble in water, comprising reacting the olefinically unsaturated compounds at 60.degree. to 180.degree. C. and 1 to 35 MPa with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a homogeneous phase in a polar organic solvent and in the presence of a catalyst system comprising a rhodium carbonyl compound and a salt of a sulfonated or carboxylated organic monophosphine or polyphosphine, which salt is soluble both in the polar organic solvent and in water, distilling off the polar organic solvent from the reaction mixture and separating the catalyst system from the distillation residue by extraction with water.

Process for the catalytic hydroformylation of olefins in which an olefin is reacted with hydrogen and carbon monoxide, with the process being carried out by operating in a liquid, aqueous-organic reaction medium, in the presence of a water-soluble complex catalyst containing a metal active in the hydroformylation, wherein said aqueous-organic medium is in the form of a microemulsion consituted by an oil phase, an aqueous phase, a surfactant and a co-surfactant, with said oil phase constituting the external phase of said microemulsion, and said aqueous phase constituting the internal phase of said microemulsion.

This invention relates in part to processes for selectively producing one or more substituted or unsubstituted 1,6-hexanedials, e.g., adipaldehyde, which comprise: (a) subjecting one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes, e.g., butadiene, or a mixture comprising one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes to hydroformylation in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, and at an alkadiene partial pressure and/or a carbon monoxide partial pressure sufficient to selectively produce one or more substituted or unsubstituted pentenals or a reaction mixture comprising one or more substituted or unsubstituted pentenals; and (b) subjecting said one or more substituted or unsubstituted pentenals or said reaction mixture comprising one or more substituted or unsubstituted pentenals to hydroformylation in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, to selectively produce said one or more substituted or unsubstituted 1,6-hexanedials. The substituted or unsubstituted 1,6-hexanedials produced by the processes of this invention can undergo further reaction(s) to afford desired derivatives thereof, e.g., epsilon caprolactone. This invention also relates in part to reaction mixtures containing one or more substituted or unsubstituted 1,6-hexanedials as principal product(s) of reaction.

This invention relates in part to processes for selectively producing one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkenals. The process hydroformylates at least one substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes, e.g., butadiene, or a mixture of one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, and at an alkadiene and/or carbon monoxide partial pressure sufficient to selectively produce at least one substituted or unsubstituted alkenals, e.g., pentenals. The substituted and unsubstituted alkenals produced by the processes of this invention can undergo further reaction(s) to afford desired derivatives thereof, e.g., hydrogenation to alkenols, particularly pentenols. This invention also relates to reaction mixtures containing one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkenals or alkenols as principal product(s) of those reactions.