Polycarboxylic acids, catalysis

Formaldehyde-free agents Polycarboxylic acid catalysis... 

Cobalt in Catalysis. Over 40% of the cobalt in nonmetaUic appHcations is used in catalysis. About 80% of those catalysts are employed in three areas (/) hydrotreating/desulfurization in combination with molybdenum for the oil and gas industry (see Sulfurremoval and recovery) (2) homogeneous catalysts used in the production of terphthaUc acid or dimethylterphthalate (see Phthalic acid and otherbenzene polycarboxylic acids) and (i) the high pressure oxo process for the production of aldehydes (qv) and alcohols (see Alcohols, higher aliphatic Alcohols, polyhydric). There are also several smaller scale uses of cobalt as oxidation and polymerization catalysts (44—46). 

Unlike studies in which acid and base catalysts are distinct molecular species, most attempts to observe bifunctional catalysis when the two catalytic sites are enclosed within the same molecule (whether in the catalyst or in the substrate itself) have failed. First, Lienhard and Anderson (1967) studied acetone iodination catalysed by the monoanions and dianions of a number of dicarboxylic (or polycarboxylic) acids (oxalic acid, 1,1-cyclobutane dicarboxy-lic acid, succinic acid and cis-1,2,3,4-cyclopentanetetracarboxylic acid) for which mechanism (21) can be assumed. It was observed that the catalytic... 

Although certain cellulose esters, such as the ammonium salt of phospho-rylated cotton and cellulose phosphate [9015-14-9], are flame-resistant, the attachment of most currently used durable polymeric flame retardants for cotton is through ether linkage to the cellulose at a relatively low degree of substitution (DS). Nondurable flame retardants based on liquid-or vapor-phase applications of boric acid [10043-35-3] or methyl borate [121-43-7] are used in treatment of cotton batting for upholstery, bedding, and automotive cushions (112-114). Cotton carpet materials will pass the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) federal flammability test for carpets (16 CFR1630) when cross-hnked with polycarboxylic acids such as 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid or citric acid with sodium phosphate, sodium hypophosphite, sodium bicarbonate, or sodium carbonate catalysis (115). 

The chemical reaction involved in the catalytic process of these reactions is, however, not a proton transfer but an acyl group transfer so that in all these studies the mechanism is one of nucleophilic catalysis rather than of general base catalysis. Some of the experimental methods and theoretical considerations are nevertheless related to some of those relevant to the study of general acid-base catalysis with polycarboxylic acids. 

---