Purification of hydrocarbons

Claim 1

A PROCESS OF TREATING A MIXTURE OF HYDROCARBONS TO REMOVE A COMPOUND CONTAINING AN ACTIVE METHYLENE GROUP, AN ACTIVE METHYLENE GROUP BEING DEFINED AS A METHYLENE GROUP BONDED BY SINGLE VALENCE BONDS TO TWO CARBON ATOMS, EACH OF SAID TWO CARBON ATOMS BEING IN TURN BONDED BY DOUBLE BONDS TO AN ADDITIONAL CARBON ATOM, EACH OF SAID ADDITIONAL CARBON ATOMS BEING BONDED TO EACH OTHER BY A SINGLE VALENCE BOND COMPRISING CONTACTING THE MIXTURE OF HYDROCARBONS IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ALKALI METAL ALCOHOLATE WITH A TREATING AGENT SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ACETONE, BENZALDEHYDE, METHYL ETHYL KETONE, BENZOPHENONE, ANISALDEHYDE, PARANITROBENZALDEHYDE, PARA-AMINOBENZALDEHYDE, PARA-DIMETHYLAMINOBENZALDEHYDE, CINNAMIC ALDEHYDE, ACETOPHENONE, CYCLOPENTANONE, SALICYALDEHYDE, CITRONELLAL, VANILLAN, DIPHENYL KETONE, ETHYL OCTYL KETONE AND ISOAMYL PHENYL KETONE TO CONVERT SAID COMPOUND CONTAINING SAID ACTIVE METHYLENE GROUP TO THE CORRESPONDING FULVENE, SAID TREATING AGENT BEING PRESENT IN A MOLAR EXCESS WITH RESPECT TO SAID COMPOUND CONTAINING SAID ACTIVE METHYLENE GROUP, ADDING AQUEOUS ALKALI METAL BISULFITE TO REMOVE EXCESS ALKALI METAL ALCOHOLATE AND TREATING AGENT, SEPARATING RESULTING HYDROCARBON AND AQUEOUS PHASES, AND SEPARATING SAID FULVENE FROM THE HYDROCARBON THEREBY OBTAINING A HYDROCARBON FRACTION FREE OF SAID COMPOUND CONTAINING AN ACTIVE METHYLENE GROUP.