Methanol formate

The reaction mechanism and rates of methyl acetate carbonylation are not fully understood. In the nickel-cataly2ed reaction, rate constants for formation of methyl acetate from methanol, formation of dimethyl ether, and carbonylation of dimethyl ether have been reported, as well as their sensitivity to partial pressure of the reactants (32). For the rhodium chloride [10049-07-7] cataly2ed reaction, methyl acetate carbonylation is considered to go through formation of ethyUdene diacetate (33) ... 

When dihydromyrcene is treated with formic acid at higher temperatures (50°C) than that required to produce dihydromyrcenol and its formate, an unexpected rearrangement occurs to produce a,3,3-trimethylcyclohexane methanol and its formate (106). The product is formed by cyclization of dihydromyrcene to the cycloheptyl carbonium ion, which rearranges to give the more stable cyclohexyl compound (107). The formate ester, a,3,3-trimethylcyclohexane methanol formate [25225-08-5] (57) is a commercially avaUable product known as Aphermate. 

Reac tion (27-37) can occur in parallel with the methanol reactions, thereby overcoming the equilibrium limitation on methanol formation. Higher alcohols can also be formed, as illustrated by Reaction (27-25), which is apphcable to the formation of either linear or branched alcohols. 

This program helps calculate the rate of methanol formation in mol/m s at any specified temperature, and at different hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methanol concentrations. This simulates the working of a perfectly mixed CSTR specified at discharge condition, which is the same as these conditions are inside the reactor at steady-state operation. Corresponding feed compositions and volumetric rates can be calculated from simple material balances. 

After a rather lengthy calculation the rate of methanol formation is found as... 

The solution is illustrated in Fig. 8.15, which shows the equilibrium concentration of methanol for different initial gas mixtures. Note that the maximum methanol concentration occurs for the pure CO + H2 mixture. Hence, in principle, a mixture of just CO and H2 could be used, with minor amounts of CO2, to produce the maximum amount of methanol. However, it is not only the equilibrium constant that matters but also the rate of methanol formation, and one must remember that methanol forms from CO2 not CO. Hence, the rate is proportional to the CO2 pressure and this is why the methanol synthesis is not performed with the simple stoichiometric 3 1 mixture of H2 and CO2 that Eq. (19) suggests. 

Special attention was paid to the detection of residual Cu-fl quantities accompanying the metallic Cu. The relative amounts of Cu+1 and Cu were determined by curve-fitting the Cu (LMM) spectra using the Physical Electronics Version 6 curve-fitting program. The catalyst showed reduction of Cu+2 Into a mixture of Cu+1 and Cu after reduction In H2 at 250 C for one hour (Figure 6) as evidenced by the two resolved peaks In the Cu (LMM) spectrum at 568.0 and 570.3 eV which are characteristic of Cu and Cu+1, respectively, and by the disappearance of the Cu+2 2p satellite structure. It could be shown that less than 2%, If any, of the total Cu could be present In the +1 oxidation state during methanol formation. However, when the catalyst was briefly exposed to air (1 minute), a few percent of Cu+1 readily formed (7). Thus, any kind of oxidation environment has to be avoided between methanol synthesis and catalyst analysis. Otherwise, appreciable amounts of Cu+1 will be detected. 

For study of substrate specificity pectin with various degrees of metoxilation (expressed as a percentage) were used beet substrate —37.8, apple substrate — 70, lemon—82. Specificity of pectinesterase action was analyzed under optimum temperature and acidity of the medium using beet, apple and lemon pectin according to the speed of methanol formation (M 10 min. ). 

Speed of methanol formation during enzyme action on various substrate... 

Ruthenium is a known active catalyst for the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to hydrocarbons (the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis). It was shown that on rathenized electrodes, methane can form in the electroreduction of carbon dioxide as weU. At temperatures of 45 to 80°C in acidihed solutions of Na2S04 (pH 3 to 4), faradaic yields for methane formation up to 40% were reported. On a molybdenium electrode in a similar solution, a yield of 50% for methanol formation was observed, but the yield dropped sharply during electrolysis, due to progressive poisoning of the electrode. 

Fe/Ir catalysts on silica and alumina Fe and Ir Mossbauer spectroscopy silica- and alumina-supported Fe-Ir catalysts formed by calcination in air contain mixtures of small particles of Fe(III) oxide and Ir(IV) oxide. IrOz is reduced in hydrogen to metallic Ir. a-Fe203 on SiOz is reduced in hydrogen to an Fe-Ir alloy, whilst supported on alumina stabilizes in hydrogen as Fe(II). Possible use for methanol formation is discussed... 

A little later, Russell et al.19 tried to obtain methanol from carbon dioxide by electrolysis. Reduction of carbon dioxide to formate ion took place in a neutral electrolyte at a mercury electrode. On the other hand, formic acid was reduced to methanol either in a perchloric acid solution at a lead electrode or in a buffered formic acid solution at a tin electrode. The largest faradaic efficiency for methanol formation from formic acid was ca. 12%, with poor reproducibility, after passing 1900 C in the perchloric acid solution at Pb in a very narrow potential region (-0.9 to -1.0 V versus SCE). In the buffered formic acid solution (0.25 M HCOOH + 0.1 M... 

Of the factors associated with the high reactivity of cyanuric chloride (high exother-micity, rapid hydrolysis in presence of water-containing solvents, acid catalysed reactions, liberation of up to 3 mol hydrogen chloride/mol of chloride, formation of methyl chloride gas with methanol, formation of carbon dioxide from bicarbonates), several were involved in many of the incidents recorded [1] (and given below). The acid catalysed self acceleration and high exothermicity are rated highest [2]. It is also a mildly endothermic compound (AH°f (s) +91.6 kJ/mol, 0.49 kJ/g). 

The first reaction produces methanol with a low hydrogen consumption, but evolves significantly greater amounts of heat. The second reaction evolves less heat, but consumes more hydrogen and produces the byproduct steam. Thermodynamically, low temperatures and high pressures favor methanol formation. The reactions are carried out with copper-containing catalysts with typical reactor conditions of 260°C and 5 MPa (Probstein and Hicks, 1982). 

The observation of O-protonation with the attendant formal reduction of the carbonyl carbon suggested to us that further protonation steps might lead to methane or methanol formation. In this process the necessary electrons for the reduction would be provided by the metal cluster, as indicated schematically in equation 21. After considerable experimentation with reactants... 

With the recent development of zeolite catalysts that can efficiently transform methanol into synfuels, homogeneous catalysis of reaction (2) has suddenly grown in importance. Unfortunately, aside from the reports of Bradley (6), Bathke and Feder (]), and the work of Pruett (8) at Union Carbide (largely unpublished), very little is known about the homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of CO to methanol. Two possible mechanisms for methanol formation are suggested by literature discussions of Fischer-Tropsch catalysis (9-10). These are shown in Schemes 1 and 2. 

In 1999, Binet et al.395 published a review on the response of adsorbed molecules to the oxidized/reduced states of ceria. In light of recent infrared studies on ceria, the assignments for OH groups, methoxy species, carbonate species, and formates are highly instructive. The OH and methoxy species have been briefly discussed. Characteristic band assignments of carbonate and formate species are provided below, the latter formed form the dissociative adsorption of formic acid, the reaction of CO with H2-reduced ceria surface, or via selective oxidation of methanol. Formate band intensities were a strong function of the extent of surface reduction of ceria. 

Figure 19.14. Mechanism of methanol formation in the "Shilov" system...

To achieve, then, high acetic acid selectivity directly from synthesis gas (eq. 1) it is necessary to balance the rates of the two consecutive steps of this preparation - ruthenium-carbonyl catalyzed methanol formation (10) (Figures 2 and 5) and cobalt-carbonyl catalyzed carbonylation to acetic acid (Figure 6) - such that the instantaneous concentration of methanol does not build to the level where competing secondary reactions, particularly methanol homologation (7, H), ester homologation (12, 13), and acid esterification (1 ), become important. 

The last explanation for methanol formation, which was proposed by Ponec et al., 26), seems to be well supported by experimental and theoretical results. They established a correlation between the gfiethanol activity and the concentration of Pd , most probably Pd. Furthermore, Anikin et al. (27) performed ab initio calculations and found that a positive charge on the palladium effectively stabilizes formyl species. Metals in a non-zero valent state were also proposed by Klier et al. (28) on Cu/ZnO/Al O, by Apai (29) on Cu/Cr O and by Somorjai for rhodium catalyts (30). Recently results were obtained with different rhodium based catalysts which showed the metal was oxidized by an interaction with the support (Rh-0) (on Rh/Al 0 ) by EXAFS ( -32) and by FT-IR ( ) and on Rh/MgO by EXAFS ( ). The oxidation of the rhodium was promoted by the chemisorption of carbon monoxide (, ). ... 

The reaction rates in this system are presumably first-order in catalyst concentration, as implied by the scaling of product formation rates proportionately to rhodium concentration (90, 92, 93). Responses to several other reaction variables may be found in both the open and patent literature. Fahey has reported studies of catalyst activity at several pressures in tet-raglyme solvent with 2-hydroxypyridine promoter at 230°C (43). He finds that the rate to total products is proportional to the pressure taken to the 3.3 power. A large pressure dependence is also evident in the results shown in Table VII. Analysis of these results indicates that the rate of ethylene glycol formation is greater than third-order in pressure (exponents of 3.2-3.5), and that for methanol formation somewhat less (exponents of 2.3-2.8). The pressure dependence of the total product formation rate is close to third-order. A possible complicating factor in the above comparisons is the increased loss of soluble rhodium species in the lower-pressure experiments, as seen in Table VII. Experiments similar to those of Fahey have also been... 

Solutions of ruthenium carbonyl complexes in acetic acid solvent under 340 atm of 1 1 H2/CO are stable at temperatures up to about 265°C (166). Reactions at higher temperatures can lead to the precipitation of ruthenium metal and the formation of hydrocarbon products. Bradley has found that soluble ruthenium carbonyl complexes are unstable toward metallization at 271°C under 272 atm of 3 2 H2/CO [109 atm CO partial pressure (165)]. Solutions under these conditions form both methanol and alkanes, products of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, respectively. Reactions followed with time exhibited an increasing rate of alkane formation corresponding to the decreasing concentration of soluble ruthenium and methanol formation rate. Nevertheless, solutions at temperatures as high as 290°C appear to be stable under 1300 atm of 3 2 H2/CO. 

When compared to the rhodium catalytic system, it can be seen that under identical conditions of temperature and pressure the iodide-promoted ruthenium system produces ethylene glycol at a comparable or somewhat lower rate. However, the rate of methanol formation is substantially higher than for the rhodium system. Thus, the overall activity of this ruthenium system is higher than that of the rhodium-based system, but the selectivity to the two-carbon product is lower. 

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