Copper phenols

The EPR spectra of phenol adsorbed on the encapsulated copper acetate in the presence of O2 clearly indicated the formation of an axially coordinated copper-phenol... 

A qualitative and preliminary picture (Fig. 11.16) of the mechanism of oxidation that emerges from our studies is the following Under the reaction conditions (pH = 6.5), the phenols exist in the phenolate form. Two phenolate ions coordinate to the two Cu(II) ions of the copper acetate dimer, reducing them to the Cu(I) oxidation state. Next, dioxygen reacts with the copper-phenolate adduct. The latter undergoes an 0-0 bond scission concomitant with the hydroxylation of the substrate. The acetate... 

Poly(2,6-dimethylphenylene ether) can be prepared by dehydrogenation of 2,6-dimethylphenol with oxygen in the presence of copper(l) chloride/pyridine as catalyst at room temperature. It is known that the mechanism involves a stepwise reaction, probably proceeding via a copper phenolate complex that is then dehydrogenated. 

This instant invention represents an improvement in the Ullman coupling reaction. This investigation represents the first general method for coupling electron deficient phenols and unactivated aryl halides (1,2,3,4). The basis of the improvement lay in the high solubility of (CuOTf)2 benzene and cesium phenolate or copper phenolate in the reaction solvent, toluene. 

R often Me) formed by oxidative polymerization of phenols using oxygen with copper and an amine (pyridine) as catalysts. The products are thermoplastics used in engineering applications and in electrical equipment. 

Ullman reaction The synthesis of diaryls by the condensation of aromatic halides with themselves or other aromatic halides, with the concomitant removal of halogens by a metal, e.g. copper powder thus bromobenzene gives diphenyl. The reaction may be extended to the preparation of diaryl ethers and diaryl thio-ethers by coupling a metal phenolate with an aryl halide. 

Chlorobenzene. Prepare a solution of phenyldiazonium chloride from 31 g. (30 -5 ml.) of aniUne, 85 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric acid, 85 ml, of water, and a solution of 24 g. of sodium nitrite in 50 ml. of water (for experimental details, see Section IV,60). Prepare cuprous chloride from 105 g. of crystallised copper sulphate (Section 11,50,1), and dissolve it in 170 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric acid. Add the cold phenyl diazonium chloride solution with shaking or stirring to the cold cuprous chloride solution allow the mixture to warm up to room temperature. Follow the experimental details given above for p-chlorotoluene. Wash the chlorobenzene separated from the steam distillate with 40 ml. of 10 per cent, sodium hydroxide solution (to remove phenol), then with water, dry with anhydrous calcium chloride or magnesium sulphate, and distil. Collect the chlorobenzene (a colourless liquid) at 131-133° (mainly 133°), The yield is 29 g. 

Synthetic phenol capacity in the United States was reported to be ca 1.6 x 10 t/yr in 1989 (206), almost completely based on the cumene process (see Cumene Phenol). Some synthetic phenol [108-95-2] is made from toluene by a process developed by The Dow Chemical Company (2,299—301). Toluene [108-88-3] is oxidized to benzoic acid in a conventional LPO process. Liquid-phase oxidative decarboxylation with a copper-containing catalyst gives phenol in high yield (2,299—304). The phenoHc hydroxyl group is located ortho to the position previously occupied by the carboxyl group of benzoic acid (2,299,301,305). This provides a means to produce meta-substituted phenols otherwise difficult to make (2,306). VPOs for the oxidative decarboxylation of benzoic acid have also been reported (2,307—309). Although the mechanism appears to be similar to the LPO scheme (309), the VPO reaction is reported not to work for toluic acids (310). 

Cmde diketene obtained from the dimeriza tion of ketene is dark brown and contains up to 10% higher ketene oligomers but can be used without further purification. In the cmde form, however, diketene has only limited stabHity. Therefore, especiaHy if it has to be stored for some time, the cmde diketene is distiHed to > 99.5% purity (124). The tarry distiHation residue, containing trike ten e (5) and other oligomers, tends to undergo violent Spontaneous decomposition and is neutralized immediately with water or a low alcohol. Ultrapure diketene (99.99%) can be obtained by crystallization (125,126). Diketene can be stabHized to some extent with agents such as alcohols and even smaH quantities of water [7732-18-5] (127), phenols, boron oxides, sulfur [7704-34-9] (128) and sulfate salts, eg, anhydrous copper sulfate [7758-98-7]. 

The second processing step, in which benzoic acid is oxidized and hydrolyzed to phenol, is carried out in two reactors in series. In the first reactor, the benzoic acid is oxidized to phenyl benzoate in the presence of air and a catalyst mixture of copper and magnesium salts. The reactor is operated at 234°C and 147 kPa gauge (1.5 kg/cm g uge). The phenyl benzoate is then hydrolyzed with steam in the second reactor to yield phenol and carbon dioxide. This occurs at 200°C and atmospheric pressure. The overall yield of phenol from benzoic acid is around 88 mol %. Figure 2 shows a simplified diagram for the toluene—benzoic acid process. 

Benzene Oxychlorin tion. In the benzene oxychlorination process, also known as the Raschig Hooker process, benzene is oxychlorinated with hydrogen chloride, air, and with the presence of iron and copper chloride catalyst to form chlorobenzene. The reaction occurs at 200—260°C and atmospheric pressure. The chlorobenzene is hydrolyzed at 480°C in the presence of a suitable catalyst to produce phenol and chloride. The yield of phenol is - 90 mol% of theoretical. These plants have been shut down for environmental and economic reasons. 

Storage. Phenol is shipped in dmms, tank tmcks, and tank cars. It is loaded and shipped at elevated temperatures as a bulk Hquid. In storage, phenol may acquire a yeUow, pink, or brown discoloration which makes it unusable for some purposes. The discoloration is promoted by the action of water, light, air, and catalysts, eg, traces of iron or copper. When stored as a solid in the original dmm or in nickel, glass-lined, or tanks lined with baked phenolic resin, phenol remains colorless for a number of weeks. 

Significant quantities of the diphenoquinone are also produced if the ortho substituents are methoxy groups (36). Phenols with less than two ortho substituents produce branched and colored products from the reactions that occur at the open ortho sites. It is possible to minimize such side reactions in the case of o-cresol oxidation by using a bulky ligand on the copper catalyst to block the open ortho position (38). 

Polymerization Mechanism. The mechanism that accounts for the experimental observations of oxidative coupling of 2,6-disubstituted phenols involves an initial formation of aryloxy radicals from oxidation of the phenol with the oxidized form of the copper—amine complex or other catalytic agent. The aryloxy radicals couple to form cyclohexadienones, which undergo enolization and redistribution steps (32). The initial steps of the polymerization scheme for 2,6-dimethylphenol are as in equation 6. 

Trilialophenols can be converted to poly(dihaloph.enylene oxide)s by a reaction that resembles radical-initiated displacement polymerization. In one procedure, either a copper or silver complex of the phenol is heated to produce a branched product (50). In another procedure, a catalytic quantity of an oxidizing agent and the dry sodium salt in dimethyl sulfoxide produces linear poly(2,6-dichloro-l,4-polyphenylene oxide) (51). The polymer can also be prepared by direct oxidation with a copper—amine catalyst, although branching in the ortho positions is indicated by chlorine analyses (52). 

A Methylamino)phenol. This derivative, also named 4-hydroxy-/V-methy1ani1ine (19), forms needles from benzene which are slightly soluble in ethanol andinsoluble in diethyl ether. Industrial synthesis involves decarboxylation of A/-(4-hydroxyphenyl)glycine [122-87-2] at elevated temperature in such solvents as chlorobenzene—cyclohexanone (184,185). It also can be prepared by the methylation of 4-aminophenol, or from methylamiae [74-89-5] by heating with 4-chlorophenol [106-48-9] and copper sulfate at 135°C in aqueous solution, or with hydroquinone [123-31 -9] 2l. 200—250°C in alcohoHc solution (186). 

The Guerbet reaction can be used to obtain higher alcohols 2-propyl-1-heptanol [10042-59-8] from 1-pentanol condensation and 6-methyl-4-nonanol from 2-pentanol (80—83). Condensations with alkah phenolates as the base, instead of copper catalyst, produce lower amounts of carboxyhc acids and requke lower reaction temperatures (82,83). The crossed Guerbet reaction of 1-pentanol with methanol in the presence of sodium methoxide catalyst afforded 2-heptanol in selectivities of about 75% (84). 

Methyl violet [8004-87-3] Cl Basic Violet 1 (17), is made by the air oxidation of dimethyl aniline in the presence of salt, phenol, and a copper sulfate catalyst. Initially, some of the dimethyl aniline is oxidized to formaldehyde and /V-methyl aniline under those conditions. The formaldehyde then reacts with dimethyl aniline to produce N,N,]S7,1S7-tetramethyldiaminodiphenylmethane, which is oxidized to Michler s hydrol [119-58-4]. The hydrol condenses with... 

The Colour Index (up to June 1991) Hsts 21 direct violets with disclosed chemical constitutions. Commercially important are Cl Direct Violet 9 [6227-14-1] (79) (Cl 27885) (sulfanihc acid coupled to cresidiue followed by alkaline coupling to V-phenyl J-acid) and Cl Direct Violet 66 [6798-03-4] (80) (Cl 29120) (a copper complex of 2-arniao-l-phenol-4-sulfonarnide (2 mol) coupled to 6,6 -imiQobis-l-naphthol-3-sulfonic acid). 

The hydroxyl group of the resulting phenol is situated immediately adjacent to where the carboxyl group was previously located. This same Hquid-phase copper oxidation process chemistry has been suggested for the production of cresols by the oxidation of toluic acids. y -Cresol would be formed by the oxidation of either ortho or para toluic acids a mixture of 0- and -cresols would be produced from y -toluic acid (6). A process involving the vapor-phase catalytic oxidation of benzoic acid to phenol has been proposed, but no plants have ever been built utilizing this technology (27). 

Dutch State Mines (Stamicarbon). Vapor-phase, catalytic hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone over palladium on alumina, Hcensed by Stamicarbon, the engineering subsidiary of DSM, gives a 95% yield at high conversion plus an additional 3% by dehydrogenation of coproduct cyclohexanol over a copper catalyst. Cyclohexane oxidation, an alternative route to cyclohexanone, is used in the United States and in Asia by DSM. A cyclohexane vapor-cloud explosion occurred in 1975 at a co-owned DSM plant in Flixborough, UK (12) the plant was rebuilt but later closed. In addition to the conventional Raschig process for hydroxylamine, DSM has developed a hydroxylamine phosphate—oxime (HPO) process for cyclohexanone oxime no by-product ammonium sulfate is produced. Catalytic ammonia oxidation is followed by absorption of NO in a buffered aqueous phosphoric acid... 

The Dow Chemical Company in the mid-1920s developed two processes which consumed large quantities of chlorobenzene. In one process, chlorobenzene was hydrolyzed with ammonium hydroxide in the presence of a copper catalyst to produce aniline [62-53-3J. This process was used for more than 30 years. The other process hydrolyzed chlorobenzene with sodium hydroxide under high temperature and pressure conditions (4,5) to product phenol [108-95-2]. The LG. Earbenwerke in Germany independentiy developed an equivalent process and plants were built in several European countries after World War II. The ICI plant in England operated until its dosing in 1965. 

In the 1930s, the Raschig Co. in Germany developed a different chlorobenzene-phenol process in which steam with a calcium phosphate catalyst was used to hydrolyze chlorobenzene to produce phenol (qv) and HCl (6). The recovered HCl reacts with air and benzene over a copper catalyst (Deacon Catalyst) to produce chlorobenzene and water (7,8). In the United States, a similar process was developed by the BakeHte Division of Union Carbide Corp., which operated for many years. The Durez Co. Hcensed the Raschig process and built a plant in the United States which was later taken over by the Hooker Chemical Corp. who made significant process improvements. 

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