Formaldehyde, and oxidation

Vanadia catalysts exhibit high activity and selectivity for numerous oxidation reactions. The reactions are partial oxidation of methane and methanol to formaldehyde, and oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to propene and ethane to ethcnc.62 62 The catalytic activity and selectivity of... 

Dehydrogenation accounts for about 45 per cent of the production of formaldehyde and oxidation for 55 per cent. Oxygen, which bums the hydrogen as it is formed, maintains the activity of the catalyst and pushes the reaction equilibrium in the favorable direction. Thus operations can take ace at lower temperatuxe, with hydrogen combus- tion supplying the heat required to Tnaintahi temperature. 

Organic phosphorus compounds are also produced in the interaction of wliite phosphorus with an epoxide or an episulfide and an alcohol or mercaptane in the presence of alkaline catalysts at 25 °C to 200 °C In order to remove P-H bonds the reaction mixture is treated witli formaldehyde and oxidized. The products are said to be useful as hardeners for epoxy resins or as antistatic agents and fire retardants. 

The reactors were thick-waked stainless steel towers packed with a catalyst containing copper and bismuth oxides on a skiceous carrier. This was activated by formaldehyde and acetylene to give the copper acetyUde complex that functioned as the tme catalyst. Acetylene and an aqueous solution of formaldehyde were passed together through one or more reactors at about 90—100°C and an acetylene partial pressure of about 500—600 kPa (5—6 atm) with recycling as required. Yields of butynediol were over 90%, in addition to 4—5% propargyl alcohol. 

The hydroxyl groups can be alkylated in the usual manner. Hydroxyalkyl ethers may be prepared with alkylene oxides and chloromethyl ethers by reaction with formaldehyde and hydrogen chloride (86). The terminal chlorides can be easily converted to additional ether groups. 

The reaction is generally carried out at atmospheric pressure and at 350—400°C. A variety of catalysts, eg, bases and metal salts and oxides on siUca or alumina—sihcates, have been patented (86—91). Conversions are in the 30—70% range and selectivities in the 60—90% range, depending on the catalyst and the ratio of formaldehyde to acetate. 

Methanol can be converted to a dye after oxidation to formaldehyde and subsequent reaction with chromatropic acid [148-25-4]. The dye formed can be deterruined photometrically. However, gc methods are more convenient. Ammonium formate [540-69-2] is converted thermally to formic acid and ammonia. The latter is trapped by formaldehyde, which makes it possible to titrate the residual acid by conventional methods. The water content can be determined by standard Kad Eischer titration. In order to determine iron, it has to be reduced to the iron(II) form and converted to its bipyridyl complex. This compound is red and can be determined photometrically. Contamination with iron and impurities with polymeric hydrocyanic acid are mainly responsible for the color number of the merchandized formamide (<20 APHA). Hydrocyanic acid is detected by converting it to a blue dye that is analyzed and deterruined photometrically. 

Methane oxidations occur only by intermediate and high temperature mechanisms and have been reported not to support cool flames (104,105). However, others have reported that cool flames do occur in methane oxidation, even at temperatures >400 ° C (93,94,106,107). Since methyl radicals caimot participate in reactions 23 or 24, some other mechanism must be operative to achieve the quenching observed in methane cool flames. It has been proposed that the interaction of formaldehyde and its products with radicals decreases their concentrations and inhibits the whole oxidation process (93). 

Methyl vinyl ketone can be produced by the reactions of acetone and formaldehyde to form 4-hydroxy-2-butanone, followed by dehydration to the product (267,268). Methyl vinyl ketone can also be produced by the Mannich reaction of acetone, formaldehyde, and diethylamine (269). Preparation via the oxidation of saturated alcohols or ketones such as 2-butanol and methyl ethyl ketone is also known (270), and older patents report the synthesis of methyl vinyl ketone by the hydration of vinylacetylene (271,272). 

The aromatic rings of kraft lignins can be sulfonated to varying degrees with sodium sulfite at high temperatures (150—200°C) or sulfomethylated with formaldehyde and sulfite at low temperatures (<100° C). Oxidative sulfonation with oxygen and sulfite is also possible. 

Many of the chemical reactions used to modify lignosulfonates are also used to modify kraft lignins. These include ozonation, alkaline—air oxidation, condensation with formaldehyde and carboxylation with chloroacetic acid (100), and epoxysuccinate (101). In addition, cationic kraft lignins can be prepared by reaction with glycidjiamine (102). 

The reaction of methyl propionate and formaldehyde in the gas phase proceeds with reasonable selectivity to MMA and MAA (ca 90%), but with conversions of only 30%. A variety of catalysts such as V—Sb on siUca-alumina (109), P—Zr, Al, boron oxide (110), and supported Fe—P (111) have been used. Methjial (dimethoxymethane) or methanol itself may be used in place of formaldehyde and often result in improved yields. Methyl propionate may be prepared in excellent yield by the reaction of ethylene and carbon monoxide in methanol over a mthenium acetylacetonate catalyst or by utilizing a palladium—phosphine ligand catalyst (112,113). 

Methanol undergoes reactions that are typical of alcohols as a chemical class (3). Dehydrogenation and oxidative dehydrogenation to formaldehyde over silver or molybdenum oxide catalysts are of particular industrial importance. 

However, this advance has an important shortcoming the lack of context. More than one idea is expressed in a document a patent on oxidation catalysts, for example, could include examples of the oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde and of 2-propanol to acetone. A simple coordinate search for conversion of methanol to acetone would retrieve such a document from a file that provides no context. 

Oxidation of cumene to cumene hydroperoxide is usually achieved in three to four oxidizers in series, where the fractional conversion is about the same for each reactor. Fresh cumene and recycled cumene are fed to the first reactor. Air is bubbled in at the bottom of the reactor and leaves at the top of each reactor. The oxidizers are operated at low to moderate pressure. Due to the exothermic nature of the oxidation reaction, heat is generated and must be removed by external cooling. A portion of cumene reacts to form dimethylbenzyl alcohol and acetophenone. Methanol is formed in the acetophenone reaction and is further oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid. A small amount of water is also formed by the various reactions. The selectivity of the oxidation reaction is a function of oxidation conditions temperature, conversion level, residence time, and oxygen partial pressure. Typical commercial yield of cumene hydroperoxide is about 95 mol % in the oxidizers. The reaction effluent is stripped off unreacted cumene which is then recycled as feedstock. Spent air from the oxidizers is treated to recover 99.99% of the cumene and other volatile organic compounds. 

Both urea— and melamine—formaldehyde resins are of low toxicity. In the uncured state, the amino resin contains some free formaldehyde that could be objectionable. However, uncured resins have a very unpleasant taste that would discourage ingestion of more than trace amounts. The molded plastic, or the cured resin on textiles or paper may be considered nontoxic. Combustion or thermal decomposition of the cured resins can evolve toxic gases, such as formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, and oxides of nitrogen. 

A method suitable for analysis of sulfur dioxide in ambient air and sensitive to 0.003—5 ppm involves aspirating a measured air sample through a solution of potassium or sodium tetrachloromercurate, with the resultant formation of a dichlorosulfitomercurate. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) disodium salt is added to this solution to complex heavy metals which can interfere by oxidation of the sulfur dioxide. The sample is also treated with 0.6 wt % sulfamic acid to destroy any nitrite anions. Then the sample is treated with formaldehyde and specially purified acid-bleached rosaniline containing phosphoric acid to control pH. This reacts with the dichlorosulfitomercurate to form an intensely colored rosaniline—methanesulfonic acid. The pH of the solution is adjusted to 1.6 0.1 with phosphoric acid, and the absorbance is read spectrophotometricaHy at 548 nm (273). 

CycHc sulfates can be prepared by a vahety of methods. Ethylene sulfate is obtained in low yield from ethylene oxide and sulfur thoxide (100). Methylene sulfate is produced from formaldehyde and sulfur thoxide (101). 

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... 

ButylatedPhenols and Cresols. Butylated phenols and cresols, used primarily as oxidation inhibitors and chain terrninators, are manufactured by direct alkylation of the phenol using a wide variety of conditions and acid catalysts, including sulfuric acid, -toluenesulfonic acid, and sulfonic acid ion-exchange resins (110,111). By use of a small amount of catalyst and short residence times, the first-formed, ortho-alkylated products can be made to predominate. Eor the preparation of the 2,6-substituted products, aluminum phenoxides generated in situ from the phenol being alkylated are used as catalyst. Reaction conditions are controlled to minimise formation of the thermodynamically favored 4-substituted products (see Alkylphenols). The most commonly used is -/ fZ-butylphenol [98-54-4] for manufacture of phenoHc resins. The tert-huty group leaves only two rather than three active sites for condensation with formaldehyde and thus modifies the characteristics of the resin. 

Although connection of polyalkylene or poly(alkylene oxide) groups to the polyamine is most commonly by the succinimide linkage, a different linking group is employed in another important class of ashless dispersants— the Mannich bases. They are prepared on a commercial scale by reaction of an alkylphenol with formaldehyde and a polyamine (173—177). The alkyl and polyamine moieties are similar to those used in the succinimide products. 

Other modifications of the polyamines include limited addition of alkylene oxide to yield the corresponding hydroxyalkyl derivatives (225) and cyanoethylation of DETA or TETA, usuaHy by reaction with acrylonitrile [107-13-1/, to give derivatives providing longer pot Hfe and better wetting of glass (226). Also included are ketimines, made by the reaction of EDA with acetone for example. These derivatives can also be hydrogenated, as in the case of the equimolar adducts of DETA and methyl isobutyl ketone [108-10-1] or methyl isoamyl ketone [110-12-3] (221 or used as is to provide moisture cure performance. Mannich bases prepared from a phenol, formaldehyde and a polyamine are also used, such as the hardener prepared from cresol, DETA, and formaldehyde (228). Other modifications of polyamines for use as epoxy hardeners include reaction with aldehydes (229), epoxidized fatty nitriles (230), aromatic monoisocyanates (231), or propylene sulfide [1072-43-1] (232). 

N-Unsubstituted pyrazoles and imidazoles add to unsaturated compounds in Michael reactions, for example acetylenecarboxylic esters and acrylonitrile readily form the expected addition products. Styrene oxide gives rise, for example, to 1-styrylimidazoles (76JCS(P1)545). Benzimidazole reacts with formaldehyde and secondary amines in the Mannich reaction to give 1-aminomethyl products. 

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