Liquid-phase oxidation with oxidizing compounds

Oxidation. Acetaldehyde is readily oxidised with oxygen or air to acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and peracetic acid (see Acetic acid and derivatives). The principal product depends on the reaction conditions. Acetic acid [64-19-7] may be produced commercially by the Hquid-phase oxidation of acetaldehyde at 65°C using cobalt or manganese acetate dissolved in acetic acid as a catalyst (34). Liquid-phase oxidation in the presence of mixed acetates of copper and cobalt yields acetic anhydride [108-24-7] (35). Peroxyacetic acid or a perester is beheved to be the precursor in both syntheses. There are two commercial processes for the production of peracetic acid [79-21 -0]. Low temperature oxidation of acetaldehyde in the presence of metal salts, ultraviolet irradiation, or osone yields acetaldehyde monoperacetate, which can be decomposed to peracetic acid and acetaldehyde (36). Peracetic acid can also be formed directiy by Hquid-phase oxidation at 5—50°C with a cobalt salt catalyst (37) (see Peroxides and peroxy compounds). Nitric acid oxidation of acetaldehyde yields glyoxal [107-22-2] (38,39). Oxidations of /)-xylene to terephthaHc acid [100-21-0] and of ethanol to acetic acid are activated by acetaldehyde (40,41). 

Oxidation of organic compounds by dioxygen is a phenomenon of exceptional importance in nature, technology, and life. The liquid-phase oxidation of hydrocarbons forms the basis of several efficient technological synthetic processes such as the production of phenol via cumene oxidation, cyclohexanone from cyclohexane, styrene oxide from ethylbenzene, etc. The intensive development of oxidative petrochemical processes was observed in 1950-1970. Free radicals participate in the oxidation of organic compounds. Oxidation occurs very often as a chain reaction. Hydroperoxides are formed as intermediates and accelerate oxidation. The chemistry of the liquid-phase oxidation of organic compounds is closely interwoven with free radical chemistry, chemistry of peroxides, kinetics of chain reactions, and polymer chemistry. 

Along with peroxides, azo-compounds are widely used as initiators of liquid-phase oxidation at mild temperatures [2-4,66,67] ... 

Liquid-phase oxidation of organic compounds is performed in laboratories and technological installations at 300-500 K. Under these conditions, organic compounds are quite stable, and their decomposition with dissociation at the C—C bond and in the reaction of retrodispro-portionation... 

AM Novak. Liquid-Phase Oxidation of Benzaldehyds and Tetrahydrobenzaldehydes and Cooxidation of Benzaldehydes with Organic Compounds. Thesis Dissertation, Institute Physical Organic Chemistry, Donetsk, 1979 [in Russian]. 

Vardanyan [65,66] discovered the phenomenon of CL in the reaction of peroxyl radicals with the aminyl radical. In the process of liquid-phase oxidation, CL results from the disproportionation reactions of primary and secondary peroxyl radicals, giving rise to trip-let-excited carbonyl compounds (see Chapter 2). The addition of an inhibitor reduces the concentration of peroxyl radicals and, hence, the rate of R02 disproportionation and the intensity of CL. As the inhibitor is consumed in the oxidized hydrocarbon the initial level of CL is recovered. On the other hand, the addition of primary and secondary aromatic amines to chlorobenzene containing some amounts of alcohols, esters, ethers, or water enhances the CL by 1.5 to 7 times [66]. This effect is probably due to the reaction of peroxyl radicals with the aminyl radical, since the addition of phenol to the reaction mixture under these conditions must extinguish CL. Indeed, the fast exchange reaction... 

Metals and metal oxides, as a rule, accelerate the liquid-phase oxidation of hydrocarbons. This acceleration is produced by the initiation of free radicals via catalytic decomposition of hydroperoxides or catalysis of the reaction of RH with dioxygen (see Chapter 10). In addition to the catalytic action, a solid powder of different compounds gives evidence of the inhibiting action [1-3]. Here are a few examples. The following metals in the form of a powder retard the autoxidation of a hydrocarbon mixture (fuel T-6, at T= 398 K) Mg, Mo, Ni, Nb V, W, and Zn [4,5]. The retarding action of the following compounds was described in the literature. 

In pulp and paper processing, anthraquinone (AQ) accelerates the delignification of wood and improves liquor selectivity. The kinetics of the liquid-phase oxidation of anthracene (AN) to AQ with NO2 in acetic acid as solvent has been studied by Rodriguez and Tijero (1989) in a semibatch reactor (batch with respect to the liquid phase), under conditions such that the kinetics of the overall gas-liquid process is controlled by the rate of the liquid-phase reaction. This reaction proceeds through the formation of the intermediate compound anthrone (ANT) ... 

The transformation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds or carboxylic acids is one of the few examples in which a heterogeneous (solid) catalyst is used in a selective, liquid phase oxidation (7,2). The process, which is usually carried out in an aqueous slurry, with supported platinum or palladium catalysts and with dioxygen as oxidant, has limited industrial application due to deactivation problems. 

The results obtained by liquid-phase oxidation or co-oxidation of various hydrocarbons are reviewed, and new results are reported for new kinds of compounds such as alkyl-aromatics, alcohols, and ethers, which were also systematically studied by co-oxidation. Gathering all kinetic data and discussing them in connection with data on absolute termination constants, obtained by other groups through physical measurements, enables us to estimate the termination and propagation rate constants for about 40 compounds and to present characteristic values for some new classes of compounds. Examples demonstrate that co-oxidation studies make it possible to explain the behavior of complex compounds reacting by different kinds of bonds, and more particularly the behavior of polymers oxidized in solution. 

The four remaining papers all deal with the catalysis of liquid-phase oxidation processes by transition metal ions (6). A. T. Betts and N. Uri show in particular how metal complexes can either catalyze or inhibit oxidation according to their concentration. In this investigation, various hydrocarbons (especially 2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane) were used as substrates, and metal ions were present either as salicylaldimine or di-isopropylsalicylate chelates. These compounds are considerably soluble in non-polar media, and this makes it possible to examine their effect over a much wider range of concentration than is usually accessible in this type of work. These studies show that catalyst-inhibitor conversion is always... 

Typical examples of liquid-phase oxidation with molecular oxygen catalyzed by heteropoly compounds are listed in Table XXVI. Introduction of Vs + or... 

Liquid-Phase Oxidation Reactions with Molecular Oxygen Catalyzed by Heteropoly Compounds Reaction Catalyst Temp. (K) Ref. 

Liquid-Phase Oxidations with Hydrogen Peroxide and Molecular Oxygen Catalyzed by Polyoxometalate-Based Compounds... 

Atmospheric Considerations. It is probably premature to assess the role of liquid phase oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds in atmospheric chemistry with the limited kinetic data available in the open literature. However, it is appropriate to discuss certain conclusions obvious from the information presented above. 

Re has recently come to the forefront in liquid phase oxidation catalysis, mainly as a result of the discovery of the catalytic properties of the alkyl compound CH3Re03 [methyltrioxorhenium (MTO)]. MTO forms mono-and diperoxo adducts with H2O2 these species are capable of transferring an oxygen atom to almost any nucleophile, including olefins, allylic alcohols, sulfur compounds, amides, and halide ions (9). Moreover, MTO catalysis can be accelerated by coordination of N ligands such as pyridine (379-381). An additional effect of such bases is that they buffer the strong Lewis acidity of MTO in aqueous solutions and therefore protect epoxides, for example. 

Certain aromatic compounds containing alkyl groups have been converted to carbonyl derivatives by liquid-phase oxidation of these groups with air in the presence of chromium oxide catalysts. 

Although the simplest branching step which is consistent with the observed kinetics is first-order in both peracid and aldehyde. Combe et al. [19] suggested that the overall branching process may be more complicated than (5c) implies. It was considered that interaction of aldehyde and peracid may lead to the formation of an addition compound similar to that proposed for the liquid phase oxidation of acetaldehyde [75—79], and that this compound could either regenerate the aldehyde and peracid, or, alternatively, decompose to give radicals, viz. 

Many other metal ions have been reported as catalysts for oxidations of paraffins or intermediates. Some of the more frequently mentioned ones include cerium, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, titanium, and ruthenium [21, 77, 105, 106]. These are employed singly or in various combinations, including combinations with cobalt and/or manganese. Activators such as aldehydes or ketones are frequently used. The oxo forms of vanadium and molybdenum may very well have the heterolytic oxidation capability to catalyze the conversion of alcohols or hydroperoxides to carbonyl compounds (see the discussion of chromium, above). There is reported evidence that Ce can oxidize carbonyl compounds via an enol mechanism [107] (see discussion of manganese, above). Although little is reported about the effectiveness of these other catalysts for oxidation of paraffins to acetic acid, tests conducted by Hoechst Celanese have indicated that cerium salts are usable catalysts in liquid-phase oxidation of butane [108]. 

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