Acetic acid industrial synthesis

The first experiment in organic electrochemistry was said to have been the transformation of wine into vinegar. This was of course not a synthesis but a practice, electrochemical or not, that still seems to be followed by the French wine industry in exporting moderately priced products to the U.S. Nor was Faraday s observation of the formation of a gaseous hydrocarbon from acetic acid a synthesis. He was too preoccupied with other activities to pursue this finding and develop the Kolbe Reaction. 

Although these humble origins make interesting historical notes m most cases the large scale preparation of carboxylic acids relies on chemical synthesis Virtually none of the 3 X 10 lb of acetic acid produced m the United States each year is obtained from vinegar Instead most industrial acetic acid comes from the reaction of methanol with carbon monoxide... 

Currently, almost all acetic acid produced commercially comes from acetaldehyde oxidation, methanol or methyl acetate carbonylation, or light hydrocarbon Hquid-phase oxidation. Comparatively small amounts are generated by butane Hquid-phase oxidation, direct ethanol oxidation, and synthesis gas. Large amounts of acetic acid are recycled industrially in the production of cellulose acetate, poly(vinyl alcohol), and aspirin and in a broad array of other... 

A Methylamino)phenol. This derivative (15) is easily soluble ia ethyl acetate, ethanol, diethyl ether, and benzene. It is also soluble ia hot water, but only spatingly soluble ia cold water. Industrial synthesis is by heating 3-(A/-methylamino)benzenesulfonic acid with sodium hydroxide at 200—220°C (179) or by the reaction of resorciaol with methylamiae ia the presence of aqueous phosphoric acid at 200°C (180). 

Ethylene and propylene, the simplest alkenes, are the two most important organic chemicals produced industrially. Approximately 26 million tons of ethylene and 17 million tons of propylene are produced each year in the United States for use in the synthesis of polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol, acetic acid, acetaldehyde, and a host of other substances (Figure 6.11. 

In asymmetric Strecker synthesis ( + )-(45,55 )-5-amino-2,2-dimethyl-4-phenyl-l,3-dioxane has been introduced as an alternative chiral auxiliary47. The compound is readily accessible from (lS,25)-2-amino-l-phcnyl-l,3-propancdioI, an intermediate in the industrial production of chloramphenicol, by acctalization with acetone. This chiral amine reacts smoothly with methyl ketones of the arylalkyl47 or alkyl series48 and sodium cyanide, after addition of acetic acid, to afford a-methyl-a-amino nitriles in high yield and in diastereomerically pure form. 

Variations in the conditions used for the nitrolysis of hexamine have a profound effect on the nature and distribution of isolated products, including the ratio of RDX to HMX. It has been shown that lower reaction acidity and a reduction in the amount of ammonium nitrate used in the Bachmann process increases the amount of HMX formed at the expense of Bachmann and co-workers ° were able to tailor the conditions of hexamine nitrolysis to obtain an 82 % yield of a mixture containing 73 % HMX and 23 % RDX. Continued efforts to provide a method for the industrial synthesis of HMX led Castorina and co-workers to describe a procedure which produces a 90 % yield of a product containing 85 % HMX and 15 % RDX. This procedure conducts nitrolysis at a constant reaction temperature of 44 °C and treats hexamine, in the presence of a trace amount of paraformaldehyde, with a mixture of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid. Bratia and co-workers ° used a three stage aging process and a boron trifluoride catalyst to obtain a similar result. A procedure reported by Picard " uses formaldehyde as a catalyst and produces a 95 % yield of a product containing 90 % HMX and 10 % RDX. 

The nitrolysis of cyclic polyamides offers a possible alternative industrial synthesis of HMX. The nitrolysis of l,3,5,7-tetraacetyl-l,3,5,7-tetraazacyclooctane (TAT) (79) and 1,5-diacetyl-3,7-dinitro-l,3,5,7-tetraazacyclooctane (DADN) (80) with a solution of dinitrogen pentoxide in anhydrous nitric acid gives HMX in 79 % and 98 % yields, respectively. Interestingly, the same reactions with nitric acid-acetic anhydride fail at room temperature. 

Table 9.2 summarizes the uses of acetic acid. Vinyl acetate is another top 50 chemical. Acetic anhydride is used to make cellulose acetate and at times has been in the top 50 chemicals itself. Cellulose acetate is a polymer used mainly as a fiber in clothing and cigarette filters. Ethyl acetate is a common organic solvent. Acetic acid is used as a solvent in the manufacture of terephthalic acid (TA) and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), which are monomers for the synthesis of poly(ethylene terephthalate), the polyester of the textile industry. A minor household use of acetic acid is as a 3-5% aqueous solution, which is called vinegar. 

Oxygen has major uses in the chemical industry too. It is used to oxidize methane, ethylene, and other hydrocarbons. Oxidation of methane produces synthesis gas. Ethylene oxidation yields products such as ethylene oxide, acetaldehyde, and acetic acid. Oxygen also is used in making many commercial inorganic compounds including various metal oxides, oxoacids, and 0x0-salts. 

Substrates include benzyl (2 g) and cinnamyl (2.7 g) alcohols to acids cyclopentanol (1 g), benzhydrol (3.9 g), benzoin (4 g), pantolactone (2.6 g) to ketones (RuCy TCCA/( Bu N)Br/aq. Kj(C03)/CH3CN) (Fig. 2.14) [25] [[2-[2-hydroxypropyl) amino]-l,2-dioxoethyl]amino]acetic acid ethyl ester (6.21 kg) to [(l,2-dioxo-2-oxopropyl)amino]ethyl)amino] acetic acid ethyl ester, part of the industrial-scale synthesis of thrombin inhibitor (RuCyaq. Na(BrOj)/CH3CN) [166] (H-)-dihydroc-holesterol (8 g) to cholest-3-one (RuO /aq. K(10 )/(BTEAC)/CHCl3) [308] ... 

The synthesis of acetic acid (AcOH) from methanol (MeOH) and carbon monoxide has been performed industrially in the liquid phase using a rhodium complex catalyst and an iodide promoter ( 4). The selectivity to acetic acid is more than 99% under mild conditions (175 C, 28 atm). The homogeneous rhodium catalyst is also effective for the synthesis of acetic anhydride (Ac O) by the carbonylation of dimethyl ether (DME) or methyl acetate (AcOMe) (5-13). However, rhodium is one of the most expensive metals, and its proved reserves are quite limited. It is highly desirable, therefore, to develop a new catalyst as a substitute for rhodium. 

Whatever the source of synthesis gas, it is the starting point for many industrial chemicals. Some examples to be discussed are the hydroformylation process for converting alkenes to aldehydes and alcohols, the Monsanto process for the production of acetic acid from methanol, the synthesis of methanol from methane, and the preparation of gasoline by the Mobil and Fischer-Tropsch methods. 

An important industrial synthesis of acetic anhydride is via acetic acid and ketone. Mixed acetic anhydrides arc made similarly by passing ketene... 

The principle of this method has been utilised on the industrial scale, and with success for the preparation of acetone. The acetic acid may be prepared from acetylene via acetaldehyde (see p. 433), thus providing a commercial synthesis of acetone from coke. 

As mentioned in the previous section, the carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid is an important industrial process. Whereas the [Co2(CO)s]-catalyzed, iodide-promoted reaction developed by BASF requires pressures of the order of 50 MPa, the Monsanto rhodium-catalyzed synthesis, which is also iodide promoted and which was discovered by Roth and co-workers, can be operated even at normal pressure, though somewhat higher pressures are used in the production units.4,1-413 The rhodium-catalyzed process gives a methanol conversion to acetic acid of 99%, against 90% for the cobalt reaction. The mechanism of the Monsanto process has been studied by Forster.414 The anionic complex m-[RhI2(CO)2]- (95) initiates the catalytic cycle, which is shown in Scheme 26. 

The carbonylation of methyl acetate to acetic anhydride is likely to become an industrial process in the near future 424,427 RhCl3-3H20 is typically used as catalyst precursor and an iodide promoter is used. A mechanistic study indicated that methyl iodide formed from the ester and HI is carbonylated as in acetic acid synthesis (Scheme 26). The resulting acyl, perhaps via reductive elimination of acetyl iodide, converts the acetic acid formed in the ester cleavage to acetic anhydride.428 430 [RhI(CO)(PPh3)2] also catalyzes the reaction though apparently more slowly than complex (95).430,431 The mechanism of this reaction is given in Scheme 27. 

Butane from natural gas is cheap and abundant in the United States, where it is used as an important feedstock for the synthesis of acetic acid. Since acetic acid is the most stable oxidation product from butane, the transformation is carried out at high butane conversions. In the industrial processes (Celanese, Hills), butane is oxidized by air in an acetic acid solution containing a cobalt catalyst (stearate, naphthenate) at 180-190 °C and 50-70 atm.361,557 The AcOH yield is about 40-45% for ca. 30% butane conversion. By-products include C02 and formic, propionic and succinic acids, which are vaporized. The other by-products are recycled for acetic acid synthesis. Light naphthas can be used instead of butane as acetic adic feedstock, and are oxidized under similar conditions in Europe where natural gas is less abundant (Distillers and BP processes). Acetic acid can also be obtained with much higher selectivity (95-97%) from the oxidation of acetaldehyde by air at 60 °C and atmospheric pressure in an acetic acid solution and in the presence of cobalt acetate.361,558... 

Industrial (BASF) syntheses of vitamin A and vitamin A aldehyde have been accomplished utilizing the aldehydes obtained from allyl acetate hydroformylation.22 Either aldehyde (10) or (11) reacts with the same phosphorus ylide to give vitamin A or retinal (Scheme 4). Hydroformylation of 3-methyl-2-butenyl acetate gives a high yield of 2-formyl-3-methylbutyl acetate. Elimination of acetic acid followed by isomerization provides trimethylacrylaldehyde, which is an intermediate in the synthesis of irones (Scheme 5). 

The synthesis of intermediates and monomers from alkanes by means of oxidative processes, in part replacing alkenes and aromatics as the traditional building blocks for the chemical industry [2]. Besides the well-known oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride, examples of processes implemented at the industrial level are (i) the direct oxidation of ethane to acetic acid, developed by Sabic (ii) the ammoxidation of propane to acrylonitrile, developed by INEOS (former BP) and by Mitsubishi, and recently announced by Asahi to soon become commercial (iii) the partial oxidation of methane to syngas (a demonstration unit is being built by ENI). Many other reactions are currently being investigated, for example, (i) the... 

The new synthesis is superior to the present process based on ketene and croton-aldehyde in terms of the variable costs (butadiene and acetic acid are inexpensive starting materials). However, high conductive salt concentrations coupled with low concentrations (2-4 %) of the desired product in the electrolyte together with considerable corrosion problems make the working up procedure much more expensive. Therefore, the new process so far has not been used industrially. 

If the acetic acid is replaced by methanol in the electrolyte, the electrochemical oxidation yields the corresponding benzaldehyde dimethyl acetals in excellent yields. This reaction which was discovered by BASF181), can also be used for the industrial synthesis of aromatic aldehydes. 

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