United States Patent 0 ICC Patented Apr
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1 3,806,467 United States Patent 0 ICC Patented Apr. 23, 1974 1 2 glycol which is then partially esteri?ed together with a 3,806,467 fatty acid. ORGANIC TIN COMPOUND CONTAINING Also newly proposed is a method (U.S. Pats. 3,360,584, CATALYST SYSTEM USEFUL FOR PRO and 3,351,635) wherein an ole?n and an organic hydro DUCING EPOXY COMPOUNDS peroxide are brought into contact with each other in the Yoshihiro Watanabe, Kobe, Toshio Nishizawa, Takatsuki, 5 and Jiro Kobayashi, Ibaraki, Japan, assignors to Sumi presence of a metallic compound comprising vanadium, tomo Chemical C0,, Ltd., Osaka, Japan molybdenum, tungsten, selenium or mixture. However, No Drawing. Original application Mar. 10, 1970, Ser. No. such method has drawbacks that the organic hydroperox 18,335. Divided and this application Sept. 30, 1971, ide itself is expensive, and that, in principle, a correspond Ser. No. 185,369 ing alcohol in an amount equivalent to the formed epox Int. Cl. C07d 1/08, 1/06 ide compound is by-produced and therefore the economi US. Cl. 252—--429 R 2 Claims cal merit of this method is likely to be in?uenced by the marketability of the by-product. ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE As described above, the conventional methods of epoxi 15 dizing ole?ns have been not fully satisfactory. Catalyst system useful for producing epoxy compound Recently hydrogen peroxide has come to be economi containing ( 1) at least one organic tin compound as a ?rst cally mass-produced due to the development of improved component having at least one hydroxyl group or a co oxidation of secondary alcohols or quinone compounds ordination group which is capable of being converted and has come to be very cheap particularly in the state to a hydroxyl group in the presence of water or hydrogen 20 before puri?cation or concentration. peroxide and (2) a second component selected from com Therefore, some attempts to utilize hydrogen peroxide pounds of molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, selenium, directly as an epoxidizing agent have been made, e.g. boron and mixtures thereof. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jap. 42, 1604, 69 (I), J. Org. Chem. 22, 1682, ’57 (II). In the former method (I), the epoxy This is a division of application Ser. No. 18,335, ?led 25 compounds of C8, C12 cyclic ole?ns are produced mainly Mar. 10, 1970. by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of This invention relates to a novel method of oxidizing a selenium dioxide catalyst. However a very large amount organic compounds and more particularly to a novel proc of the catalyst is required and this publication does not ess for producing epoxy compounds from ole?ns in the mention the epoxidability of aliphatic ole?ns. In the presence of a special catalyst. 30 method (II), grycohol of C5 cyclic ole?n is produced Epoxy compounds play an important role in the in mainly in the presence of such metallic compounds as of dustry as intermediate materials for industrial chemicals, H2WO4 as catalyst. synthetic resins, rubbers, etc. However, a small amount of epoxy compounds have There are already known many methods of epoxidizing been isolated as only intermediates. What can be generally ole?ns. For example, the most typical industrial method 35 said is that, with such simple catalyst systems, the is the gas phase oxidation of ethylene. However, such epoxidizing activity of hydrogen peroxide is so low that, method can proceed in considerably high yields for ethyl as mentioned also in the above literatures, the forma ene which has the simplest chemical structure among tion of a small amount of epoxy compound is recognized ole?ns but is low in the yield for other ole?ns, particularly only on very speci?c compounds, especially cyclic com propylene, so that it has been found to be difficult to 4.0 pounds, and the reaction proceeds to a diol in most cases. industrialize such method in respect to ole?ns other than From such viewpoint, the investigation to use hydrogen ethylene. peroxide directly for an epoxidation has not been estab The most widely used method of epoxidizing ole?ns is lished practically. Therefore, it has been necessary to convert hydrogen peroxide into a peracid as mentioned the so-called chlorohydrin method long known in the art. 45 However, this method has such drawbacks as the high cost hereinbefore or to employ an organic hydroperoxide. required for large electrolytic equipment, corrosion of An object of the present invention is to provide an the apparatus and the waste of expensive chlorine. There advantageous and industrially practical method wherein, fore, a more economical method has been strongly hoped by the adoption of newly discovered catalyst system, hydrogen peroxide may be used effectively and directly as for. 50 From such viewpoint, some improved methods have an epoxidizing agent for the epoxidation of ole?ns. been proposed. Thus, for example, there has been pro It has now been found that, when a catalyst system hav posed a method wherein a strong active substance such ing the below described speci?c composition is used dis as a peracid, particularly peracetic acid is used as an. solved or suspended in the reaction solvent and ole?n, epoxidizing agent for ole?ns. However, this method has hydrogen peroxide can be advantageously used as an various drawbacks that peracetic acid itself is produced 55 epoxy oxygen source. from hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid or acetaldehyde According to the present invention, there is used a cat and oxygen; and therefore its production cost is high, alyst system comprising a combination of (1) at least one that peracetic acid is explosive and there is required a tin compound as a ?rst component and (2) a second com special care for its handling. ponent selected from the group consisting of compounds Further, there is also known an “in situ” method (I.E.C. of vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, selenium, and 47, 147) wherein hydrogen peroxide is utilized as an boron, and mixtures of any two or more of these com epoxidizing agent in the presence of an acid catalyst pounds. together with a fatty acid. However, there is a great dis As for the tin compound which is the ?rst component, advantage that, due to the use of the strong acid catalyst, both organic tin and inorganic tin compounds may be the formed epoxide is hydrolyzed partially to become 65 used. 3,806,467 3 4 As for the organic tin compounds, there can be exem ?rst component to the second component is not inde pli?ed tin compounds having at least one hydroxyl group pendent of reaction products, the ratio may be varied or having a coordination group which can be converted widely. But, the ratio of atom of the ?rst component is to a hydroxyl group in the presence of water or hydrogen preferable more than that of the second component. The peroxide. More particular examples are those having any element of the second component per one tin atom is of the following formulae: 1—0.00l, preferably 0.1-0.01. Generally, a concentration (by weight ratio) of the mixture of the ?rst component and the second component in the reaction system is about 1/l0,000 to 1/ 10, preferably about 1/ 100 to 1/1,000. 10 However, generally, in case a boron compound is used for the second component, the higher the concentration of boron, the better the result. It is desirable therefore to use such boron compound as a saturated solution, if possible. 15 As regards the working mechanism of the catalyst sys tem of the present invention, there have been recognized wherein each of R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 represents an some phenomena which can explain that the ?rst compo alkyl group, aralkyl group, phenyl group, phenoxy group, nent, the second component and hydrogen peroxide form alkoxy group, hydrogen atom, carbonyl group, nitrile an active complex compound effective or favorable to the group, hydroxyl group, acyl group, halogen group, epoxidizing reaction. --—S—R or —O-R and R represents an alkyl or phenyl The solvent to be used in carrying out the method of group. It is also possible to employ a synthesized solu the present invention may be selected from a consider tion or extract containing such tin compound. ably wide range of ordinary organic compounds, provided Examples of the inorganic tin compounds, are tin chlo that they do not quickly react with the ole?n, hydrogen ride, tin sul?de, sodium stannate, tin oxide and organic acid salts of tin. 25 peroxide and/or catalyst. However, it has been found Generally, an organic tin compound has an activity that, in some solvents, the compatibility with ole?n and much higher than that of an inorganic compound. hydrogen peroxide is low so that the reaction system sepa The second component of the catalyst system of this in rates into a plurality of phases and, in case the reaction vention is selected from organic and inorganic compounds is continued for a long time or in case the reaction tem 30 perature is elevated, the tin compound is deposited on the containing molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, selenium or wall and bottom of the reaction vessel. boron. Examples of the soluble second component are From the industrial viewpoint, when the solubility and naphthenates, stearates, octoates, carbonyls, acetylace stability of the raw material ole?n and catalyst system tonates polyacid, and the like, of the above-mentioned metals. Examples of the insoluble second component are and the stability of hydrogen peroxide are considered, 35 the proper selection of the solvent is important to the oxides, ammonium salts, phosphates, nitrates, sulfates, method of the present invention.