Process for the preparation of fatty aldehydes from renewable resources

Common methods for the chemical production of fatty aldehydes, widely applied as artificial flavors and fragrances, use fossil starting materials, harsh reaction conditions, and hazardous chemicals. This contribution introduces a novel, environmentally friendly process for the preparation of fatty aldehydes from the natural, renewable resource plant oil. It has successfully been shown that bringing a fatty acid into contact with zerovalent iron leads to the reduction of the fatty acid to the corresponding fatty aldehyde. In this paper, the three-step process is presented and discussed, exemplary for the preparation of dodecylaldehyd from dodecanoate.