Depolymerization, paraformaldehyde

Resorcinol differs from other phenols in that it reacts readily with formaldehyde under neutral conditions at ambient temperature. To make stable adhesives, which can be cured at the point of use, they are prepared with less than a stoichiometric amount of formaldehyde. About two thirds of a mole of formaldehyde for each mole of resorcinol will give a stable resinous condensation product. The resin is formed into a liquid of convenient solids content and viscosity. Such solutions have infinite stability when stored in closed containers. Glue mixes formed at the point of use from these solutions, on addition of paraformaldehyde-containing hardeners, will have a useful life of several hours due to two principal factors (1) the paraformaldehyde depolymerizes to supply monomeric formaldehyde at a slow rate, as determined by the pH (2) the availability of the formaldehyde is also controlled by the kind and amount of alcohol in the solvent. Formaldehyde reacts with the alcohol to form a hemiacetal. This reaction is reversible and forms an equilibrium which exerts further control on the availability of the formaldehyde. 

Paraformaldehyde Method. 2,2,4,4-Tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol. A 2-liter, three-necked flask was fitted with a glass stirrer, thermometer, and Dean-Stark trap which was filled with distilled cyclohexane and attached to a water-cooled condenser. In the flask were placed 216 grams (1.5 moles) of 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-l,3-cyclobutanediol (1 to 1 cis-/trans- mixture), 52.2 grams (1.65 moles, if 95% pure) of paraformaldehyde, 1200 ml. of distilled cyclohexane, and 0.20 gram of methanedisulfonic acid in a 10 to 25% aqueous solution. (The catalyst solution had been treated with Darco G-60 to remove all color.) While this mixture was stirred at 60° C., the paraformaldehyde depolymerized to formaldehyde, which reacted with the diol. Complete reaction of these two components was indicated when they had gone into solution. This required about 1 hour. 

Description of Process. This process is superior to the conventional dibutyl formal method in that polyformals- can be obtained with high molecular weights and substantially no color. A mixture of a diol, paraformaldehyde, acidic catalyst, and hydrocarbon solvent is stirred at 60° C. for about 1 hour. During this time, the paraformaldehyde depolymerizes and reacts with the diol. When complete solution is attained, the mixture is refluxed and the water formed in the reaction is azeotropically removed. When the prepolymer is to be built up in solution, two or three additional increments of paraformaldehyde are added and the reaction is continued. The viscosity of the solution increases as the molecular weight of the polymer increases. When the prepolymer is to be built up by the solid-phase method, the solvent is removed and the prepolymer isolated. 

CAUTION Paraformaldehyde depolymerizes to formaldehyde and produces harmful vapors. Prepare it in a chemical hood ... 

Common grades include flaked, powdered and granular white crystalline materials with the distinct odour of formaldehyde. The water solubility of the poly-merizates decreases with increasing degree of polymerization. Paraformaldehyde depolymerizes especially in acidic but in alkaline media, too. Depolymerization of paraformaldehyde also takes place in polar solvents, very rapidly if heat is involved and traces of an alkaline material, e.g. potassium carbonate are added. 

Figure 5.4 Cabinet decontamination. Equipment prepared for paraformaldehyde depolymerization.

This is the least desirable of all three processes [What do you mean by that This is really easy to do And the yield are fine ]. The yields are lower than the two rearrangements, and it requires substantial labor to get a decently pure product. Not "labor" as In difficult but "labor" as in a lot of it. I would suggest this only for those who have a large supply of Formaldehyde available to them (note - N. Coffey found formaldehyde at Home Depot - look for "Mildewcide" and dissolve it in enough water to make a 37% solution to depolymerize the paraformaldehyde). 

Place 3 3oz packets of Mildewcide into a 1L flask with an electric heating mantle and cork in the neck connected to a gas bubbler immersed in at least 550mL of distilled water. Heat the paraformaldehyde (what is in the Mildewcide) to between 180-200C (a temp, regulator is absolutely necessary for this step or use a silicone oil bath). The paraformaldehyde will depolymerize making formaldehyde gas in about 91% yield. Alternatively, the gas can be bubbled through the Ammonia solution directly (only for the brave ). If the Formaldehyde solution will not be used immedi-... 

Paraformaldehyde [30525-89-4] is a mixture of polyoxymethylene glycols, H0(CH20) H, with n from 8 to as much as 100. It is commercially available as a powder (95%) and as flake (91%). The remainder is a mixture of water and methanol. Paraformaldehyde is an unstable polymer that easily regenerates formaldehyde in solution. Under alkaline conditions, the chains depolymerize from the ends, whereas in acid solution the chains are randomly cleaved (17). Paraformaldehyde is often used when the presence of a large amount of water should be avoided as in the preparation of alkylated amino resins for coatings. Formaldehyde may also exist in the form of the cycHc trimer trioxane [110-88-3]. This is a fairly stable compound that does not easily release formaldehyde, hence it is not used as a source of formaldehyde for making amino resins. 

If paraformaldehyde is used directly without depolymerization, the yield is only 40-45 per cent. 

Zavitsas et al. added terms for the extent of hemiformal and paraformaldehyde formation. Hemiformal formation slows the methylolation reaction as does the presence of paraformaldehyde. They report that only monomeric methylene glycol appears to methylolate. They point out that the terms for the two polyoxy-methylene species partially cancel one another, as depolymerization of paraformaldehyde naturally occurs while hemiformal formation is increasing due to methylolation. They observe that hemiformals form only on the methylolphenol hydroxyls and not on the aromatic hydroxyl. They calculate that the average number of methoxy groups involved in each of the hemiformals is about two in addition to the original methylol. There is no selectivity for ortho versus para positions in hemiformal formation. 

Zavitsas et al. account for the effects of water in their calculations. Water promotes depolymerization of the paraformaldehyde as well as the hemiformals. Their modifications correct for the apparent reduction in methylolation rate as the extent of reaction proceeds, in that the hemiformals remove formaldehyde reactivity from the reaction mixture. Their rate constants look large because they are written for phenate concentrations rather than phenol and because of the formaldehyde equilibrium adjustments. They note that unsalted phenol is a by-... 

Kawakami, Suzuki and Yamashita showed that compound 7, among many others, could be polymerized to derivatives of the corresponding open-chained species by treatment with boron trifluoride ether complex. Yamashita and Kawakami formed these same sorts of materials by heating the glycols and paraformaldehyde in the presence of toluenesulfonic acid. This led to prepolymers which were then thermally depolymerized to afford the cyclic oligomers which were separated by fractional distillation. 

Formaldehyde solutions prepared by dissolving and depolymerization of paraformaldehyde (a homopolymer of formaldehyde with empirical formula HO (CH20)nH, where n > 6) are free of admixtures of methanol and formic acid. Depolymerized paraformaldehyde is useful in enzyme histochemistry, when the preservation of the enzyme activity is of crucial importance, but it has no advantage over formalin solutions routinely used in pathology and in immunohistochemistry. 

The industrial synthesis of polyformaldehyde [poly(oxymethylene)] occurs by anionic polymerization of formaldehyde in suspension. For this the purification and handling of monomeric formaldehyde is of special importance since it tends to form solid paraformaldehyde. After the polymerization the semiacetal end groups have to be protected in order to avoid thermal depolymerization (Example 5-13). This is achieved by esterfication with acetic anhydride (see Example 5-7). As in the case of trioxane copolymers (see Sect. 3.2.3.2) the homopolymers of formaldehyde find application as engineering plastics. 

The concept of a (bound) formaldehyde intermediate in CO hydrogenation is supported by the work of Feder and Rathke (36) and Fahey (43). Experiments under H2/CO pressure at 182-220°C showed that paraformaldehyde and trioxane (which depolymerize to formaldehyde at reaction temperatures) are converted by the cobalt catalyst to the same products as those formed from H2/CO alone. The rate of product formation is faster than in comparable H2/CO-only experiments, and product distributions are different, apparently because secondary reactions are now less competitive. However, Rathke and Feder note that the formate/alcohol ratio is similar to that found in H2/CO-only reactions (36). Roth and Orchin have reported that monomeric formaldehyde reacts with HCo(CO)4 under 1 atm of CO at 0°C to form glycolaldehyde, an ethylene glycol precursor (75). The postulated steps in this process are shown in (19)—(21), in which complexes not observed but... 

Diethyl methylidenemalonate. This reagent (3) polymerizes easily and can be prepared by depolymerization of oligomers, but is more readily available in sufficiently pure form from diethyl malonate (1) by conversion to the Diels-Alder adduct 2 from anthracene, paraformaldehyde, and 1. When heated at 190-200° with maleic anhydride, the adduct 2 decomposes to 3 in an overall yield of -50%. 

Figure 9.10 presents the mechanism of the polymerization of formaldehyde starting from anhydrous formaldehyde and formaldehyde hydrate. In addition, a reaction path is shown that also connects trimeric formaldehyde ( trioxane, F) with paraformaldehyde (H). In practice, though, this reaction path is only taken in the reverse direction, upon heating (entropy gain ) of paraformaldehyde in aqueous acid as a depolymerization of H —> F. 

Some hetero double bond systems have been shown to enter [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions with the mesoionic 1,3-dithiolones. Thus, the mesoionic 1,3-dithiolones (2) react with formaldehyde, prepared in situ by depolymerization of paraformaldehyde, with regiospecific formation of the 2-oxa-6,7-dithiabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanone derivatives (131). The corresponding reaction of (2) with the N=N double bond of dimethyl azodicarboxylate proceeds via cycloaddition yielding (132), and a similar reaction takes place between (2) and 4-phenyl-l,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (78CB3171). 

Alkali is not capable of dissolving native cellulose. Only depolymerized cellulose fragments with a low degree of polymerization are alkali soluble. Certain quaternary ammonium compounds are more effective resulting in full solubility, A mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide and paraformaldehyde (DMSO-PF) has interesting properties as a cellulose solvent. However, its effect depends at least partly on the formation of a hydroxymethylcellulose derivative. The most important cellulose solvents are metal complexes of... 

Little is known about the overall mechanism of cyclic oligomer formation, although the mechanism of the initial stages of the sequence seems fairly clear. The first chemical event is the reaction of formaldehyde (formed in the Petrolite procedures by depolymerization of paraformaldehyde) with phenol to form 2-hydroxy-methyl- and 2,6-6w(hydroxymethyl)phenols in a base-catalyzed process, as shown in Fig. 3. Such compounds were characterized many years ago50), obtained from the action of aqueous formaldehyde on phenol in basic solution at room temperature. Subsequent condensation between the hydroxymethylphenols and the starting phenol occurs to form linear dimers, trimers, tetramers, etc. via a pathway that might involve o-quinonemethide intermediates which react with phenolate ions in a Michael-like reaction, as portrayed in Fig. 4. The condensation of hydroxymethyl-... 

Paraformaldehyde is depolymerized by heating this solution to 60"C and the subsequent addition of a few drops of 200 mM NaOH until clearing of the solution. 

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