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In a process for producing a methyl-substituted biphenyl compound, at least one methyl-substituted cyclohexylbenzene compound of the formula: is contacted with a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising at least one methyl-substitu

In a process for producing a methyl-substituted biphenyl compound, at least one methyl-substituted cyclohexylbenzene compound of the formula: is contacted with a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising at least one methyl-substituted biphenyl compound, wherein each of m and n is independently an integer from 1 to 3 and wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst comprises (i) an element or compound thereof from Group 10 of the Periodic Table of Elements and (ii) tin or a compound thereof.

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1. A process for producing a methyl-substituted biphenyl compound, the process comprising: (a) contacting at least one methyl-substituted cyclohexylbenzene compound of the formula: with a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising at

1. A process for producing a methyl-substituted biphenyl compound, the process comprising: (a) contacting at least one methyl-substituted cyclohexylbenzene compound of the formula: with a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising at least one methyl-substituted biphenyl compound wherein each of m and n is independently an integer from 1 to 3 and wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst comprises (i) platinum and (ii) tin or a compound thereof wherein the hydrogenation product contains less than 10 wt % of methyl biphenyl compounds and less than 5 wt % of fluorene and methyl fluorenes combined. 2. The process of claim 1, wherein each of m and n is 1. 3. The process of claim 2, wherein the dehydrogenation reaction product comprises less than 10 wt % of monomethyl-substituted biphenyl compounds. 4. A process for producing methyl-substituted biphenyl compounds, the process comprising: (a) contacting a feed comprising at least one aromatic hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of toluene, xylene and mixtures thereof with hydrogen in the presence of a hydroalkylation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a hydroalkylation reaction product comprising (methylcyclohexyl)toluenes and/or (dimethylcyclohexyl)xylenes; and(b) dehydrogenating at least part of the hydroalkylation reaction product in the presence of a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising a mixture of methyl-substituted biphenyl compounds, wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst comprises (i) an element or compound thereof from Group 10 of the Periodic Table of Elements and (ii) tin or a compound thereof, wherein the hydroalkylation reaction product comprises at least 60 wt % of the 3,3, 3,4, 4,3 and 4,4-isomers of (methylcyclohexyl)toluene based on the total weight of all the (methylcyclohexyl)toluene isomers and less than 30 wt % of methylcyclohexane. 5. The process of claim 4, wherein the hydroalkylation catalyst comprises an acidic component and a hydrogenation component. 6. The process of claim 5, wherein the acidic component of the hydroalkylation catalyst comprises a molecular sieve. 7. The process of claim 6, wherein the molecular sieve is selected from the group consisting of BEA, FAU and MTW structure type molecular sieves, molecular sieves of the MCM-22 family and mixtures thereof. 8. The process of claim 6, wherein the molecular sieve comprises a molecular sieve of the MCM-22 family. 9. The process of claim 5, wherein the hydrogenation component of the hydroalkylation catalyst selected from the group consisting of palladium, ruthenium, nickel, zinc, tin, cobalt and compounds and mixtures thereof. 10. The process of claim 4, wherein the hydroalkylation conditions in the contacting (a) include a temperature from about 100° C. to about 400° C. and a pressure from about 100 to about 7,000 kPa. 11. The process of claim 4, wherein the molar ratio of hydrogen to aromatic feed supplied to the contacting (a) is from about 0.15:1 to about 15:1. 12. The process of claim 4, wherein the aromatic hydrocarbon is toluene and the hydroalkylation reaction product comprises and less than 2% of dimethylbicyclohexane compounds. 13. The process of claim 4, wherein the aromatic hydrocarbon is toluene and the hydroalkylation reaction product comprises less than 1 wt % of compounds containing in excess of 14 carbon atoms. 14. The process of claim 4, wherein the feed to step (a) further comprises benzene and/or at least one alkylbenzene different from toluene and xylene. 15. The process of claim 4, wherein the aromatic hydrocarbon is toluene and the dehydrogenation reaction product comprises less than 10 wt % of monomethyl-substituted biphenyl compounds. 16. The process of claim 4, wherein the aromatic hydrocarbon is toluene and the dehydrogenation reaction product comprises less than 5 wt % of fluorene and methylfluorenes combined. 17. The process of claim 4, wherein the dehydrogenation conditions in (b) include a temperature from about 200° C. to about 600° C. and a pressure from about 100 kPa to about 3550 kPa. 18. A process for producing biphenyl esters, the process comprising: (a) contacting a feed comprising at least one aromatic hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of toluene, xylene and mixtures thereof with hydrogen in the presence of a hydroalkylation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a hydroalkylation reaction product comprising (methylcyclohexyl)toluenes and/or (dimethylcyclohexyl)xylenes;(b) dehydrogenating at least part of the hydroalkylation reaction product in the presence of a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising a mixture of methyl-substituted biphenyl compounds, wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst comprises (i) an element or compound thereof from Group 10 of the Periodic Table of Elements and (ii) tin or a compound thereof;(c) contacting at least part of the dehydrogenation reaction product with an oxygen source under conditions effective to convert at least part of the methyl-substituted biphenyl compounds to biphenyl carboxylic acids; and(d) reacting the biphenyl carboxylic acids with one or more C4 to C14 alcohols under conditions effective to produce biphenyl esters. 19. The process of claim 18, wherein the hydroalkylation catalyst comprises an acidic component and a hydrogenation component. 20. The process of claim 19, wherein the acidic component of the hydroalkylation catalyst comprises a molecular sieve. 21. The process of claim 20, wherein the molecular sieve is selected from the group consisting of BEA, FAU and MTW structure type molecular sieves, molecular sieves of the MCM-22 family and mixtures thereof. 22. The process of claim 20, wherein the molecular sieve comprises a molecular sieve of the MCM-22 family. 23. The process of claim 18, wherein the hydroalkylation conditions in (a) include a temperature from about 100° C. to about 400° C. and a pressure from about 100 to about 7,000 kPa. 24. The process of claim 18, wherein the feed to step (a) further comprises benzene and/or at least one alkylbenzene different from toluene and xylene. 25. The process of claim 18, wherein the dehydrogenation conditions in (b) include a temperature from about 200° C. to about 600° C. and a pressure from about 100 kPa to about 3550 kPa. 26. The process of claim 4, wherein unreacted aromatic feed is removed from the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) and recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 27. The process of claim 4, wherein toluene and or xylene feed is removed from the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) and recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 28. The process of claim 4 wherein fully saturated single ring by-products in the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) are dehydrogenated to produce recyclable feed that is recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 29. The process of claim 4 wherein methylcyclohexane and dimethylcyclohexane in the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) are dehydrogenated to produce recyclable feed that is recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 30. The process of claim 4, wherein unreacted aromatic feed is removed from the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) and recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a), and wherein fully saturated single ring by-products in the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) are dehydrogenated to produce recyclable feed that is recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 31. The process of claim 4, wherein toluene and or xylene feed is removed from the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) and recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a), and wherein methylcyclohexane and dimethylcyclohexane in the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) are dehydrogenated to produce recyclable feed that is recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 32. The process of claim 18, wherein unreacted aromatic feed is removed from the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) and recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a), and wherein fully saturated single ring by-products in the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) are dehydrogenated to produce recyclable feed that is recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 33. The process of claim 18, wherein toluene and or xylene feed is removed from the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) and recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a), and wherein methylcyclohexane and dimethylcyclohexane in the hydroalkylation reaction product of step a) are dehydrogenated to produce recyclable feed that is recycled back to the hydroalkylation of step a). 34. A process for producing a methyl-substituted biphenyl compound, the process comprising: (a) contacting at least one methyl-substituted cyclohexylbenzene compound of the formula: with a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising at least one methyl-substituted biphenyl compound wherein each of m and n is independently an integer from 1 to 3 and wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst comprises (i) platinum and (ii) tin or a compound thereof; and the dehydrogenation reaction product comprises less than 10 wt % of monomethyl-substituted biphenyl compounds. 35. A process for producing methyl-substituted biphenyl compounds, the process comprising: (a) contacting a feed comprising at least one aromatic hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of toluene, xylene and mixtures thereof with hydrogen in the presence of a hydroalkylation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a hydroalkylation reaction product comprising (methylcyclohexyl)toluenes and/or (dimethylcyclohexyl)xylenes; and(b) dehydrogenating at least part of the hydroalkylation reaction product in the presence of a dehydrogenation catalyst under conditions effective to produce a dehydrogenation reaction product comprising a mixture of methyl-substituted biphenyl compounds, wherein the dehydrogenation catalyst comprises (i) platinum and (ii) tin or a compound thereof, wherein the hydroalkylation catalyst comprises an acidic component and a hydrogenation component, wherein the molecular sieve is selected from the group consisting of BEA, FAU, and MTW structure type molecular sieves, molecular sieves of the MCM-22 family and mixtures thereof. 36. The process of claim 35, wherein the molecular sieve comprises a molecular sieve of the MCM-22 family. 37. The process of claim 1, wherein the hydroalkylation reaction product comprises at least 60 wt % of the 3,3, 3,4, 4,3, and 4,4-isomers of (methylcyclohexyl)toluene based on the total weight of all the (methylcyclohexyl)toluene isomers, less than 30 wt % of methylcyclohexane, less than 2% of dimethylbicyclohexane compounds; and less than 1 wt % of compounds containing in excess of 14 carbon atoms. 38. The process of claim 1, wherein the hydroalkylation reaction product comprises at least 60 wt % of the 3,3, 3,4, 4,3, and 4,4-isomers of (methylcyclohexyl)toluene based on the total weight of all the (methylcyclohexyl)toluene isomers, less than 30 wt % of methylcyclohexane, less than 2% of dimethylbicyclohexane compounds; and less than 1 wt % of compounds containing in excess of 16 carbon atoms. 39. The process of claim 5, wherein the hydrogenation component of the hydroalkylation catalyst comprises platinum and tin.