Sulfonated acidic resin catalysts

There have been a number of reports of improved selectivity with sulfonic acid resin catalysts compared with conventional liquid acid catalysts[6—9]. Various explanations have also been proposed. If mechanisms usually postulated for condensation reactions with liquid Br0nsted acid [10] and solid acid catalysts [11] are adopted, the sequence of steps shown in Fig. 2 could be considered for the condensation of MFC. Both mechanisms incorporate the essential features of known carbenium ion chemistry, i.t., electrophilic attack on the aromatic ring by polar carbenium ion intermediates. Note that MDU is formed by this attack on the benzene ring of MPC, while the N—benzyl compound by the attack on nitrogen atom. 

The synthesis of methyl /-butyl ether (MTBE) from isobutylene and methanol on TS-1 has been investigated. This reaction is catalyzed by acids and the industrial production is carried out with sulfonic acid resin catalysts. It has been reported that at 363-383 K the reaction proceeds in the presence of the acidic HZSM-5, but also on TS-1, which is much more weakly acidic. However, the characterization of the catalysts used is not completely satisfactory for instance, the IR spectra reported do not show the 960-cm 1 band that is always present in titanium-containing silicas. It is therefore possible that the materials with which the reaction has been studied are not pufe-phase TS-1. The catalytic activity for MTBE synthesis is, in any case, an interesting result, and further investigations with fully characterized catalysts are expected to provide a satisfactory interpretation of these results (Chang et al., 1992). 

MTBE is conventionally produced from the etherification of isobutylene with methanol over sulfonated acidic resin catalysts under very mild conditions. 

Esters. Most acryhc acid is used in the form of its methyl, ethyl, and butyl esters. Specialty monomeric esters with a hydroxyl, amino, or other functional group are used to provide adhesion, latent cross-linking capabihty, or different solubihty characteristics. The principal routes to esters are direct esterification with alcohols in the presence of a strong acid catalyst such as sulfuric acid, a soluble sulfonic acid, or sulfonic acid resins addition to alkylene oxides to give hydroxyalkyl acryhc esters and addition to the double bond of olefins in the presence of strong acid catalyst (19,20) to give ethyl or secondary alkyl acrylates. 

Both sulfuric acid and hydrofluoric acid catalyzed alkylations are low temperature processes. Table 3-13 gives the alkylation conditions for HF and H2SO4 processes. One drawback of using H2SO4 and HF in alkylation is the hazards associated with it. Many attempts have been tried to use solid catalysts such as zeolites, alumina and ion exchange resins. Also strong solid acids such as sulfated zirconia and SbFs/sulfonic acid resins were tried. Although they were active, nevertheless they lack stability. No process yet proved successful due to the fast deactivation of the catalyst. A new process which may have commercial possibility, uses... 

MP borohydride catches one equivalent of the titanium catalyst, while the polystyrene-bound diethanolamine resin (PS-DEAM) can scavenge the remaining titanium catalyst. The borohydride reagent also assists in the reductive animation reaction. Final purification of the crude amine product is achieved with a polystyrene-bound toluene sulfonic acid resin scavenger that holds the amine through an ion exchange reaction, while impurities are washed off. The pure amine can be recovered with methanol containing 2M ammonium hydroxide. 

Nafion-H, a perfluorinated sulfonic acid resin, is another strongly acidic solid that has been explored as alkylation catalyst. Rprvik et al. (204) examined unsupported Nafion-H with a nominal surface area of 0.2 m2/g (surface area of a swellable polymer is difficult to define) in isobutane/2-butene alkylation at 353 K and compared it with a CeY zeolite. The zeolite gave a better alkylate and higher conversion than Nafion-H, which produced significant amounts of octenes and heavy-end products. The low surface area of the resin and questions about the accessibility of the sulfonic acid groups probably make the comparison inadequate. 

At low temperatures, the activity of acid catalysts in transesterification is normally fairly low and to obtain a sufficient reaction rate it is necessary to increase the reaction temperature to >170 °C. Therefore, sulfonic acid resins can be used in esterification reactions where they perform well at temperatures <120 °C and particularly in the pretreatment of acidic oils. Under these reaction conditions, acidic resins are stable. Poly(styrenesulfonic add), for example, has been used in the esterification of a by-product of a vegetable oil refinery with a 38.1 wt% acidity at 90-120 ° C and 3-6 atm. It was not deactivated after the first batch and maintained a steady catalytic performance in the next seven batches [22]. 

MTBE is used on a large scale as an octane number boosting additive in unleaded gasoline. Sulfonic acid resins are applied as efficient catalysts for the industrial production of MTBE from methanol and isobutylene (222). Since 1987, investigations of the synthesis of MTBE with reactants in the gas phase have been performed with zeolites HY (223-225), H-Beta (226), HZSM-5 (224,225), and H-BZSM-5 (227) as catalysts. 

Chromium(III) and cerium(IV) impregnated Nafion K (a perfluorinated sulfonic acid resin) were used as catalysts f°r the themoselective oxidation of a variety of alcohols using TBHP or NaBr03 as tlie oxy9en donor A e.g. 

Ainberlyst-type catalysts were as active as and more selective than the best homogeneous catalyst, II2SO4. Amberlyst 15 and 3G are macroreticular type polystyrene sulfonic acid resins partially cross-linked with divinylbenzene. The absence of the N—benzyl product when solid acid catalysts were employed suggests the possibility that the reaction could be carried out in a single step. It is also expected to provide all the aforementioned advantages of solid catalysts over liquid catalysts. 

Fig. 2. Proposed reaction mechanism for methyl N—phenyl carbamate condensation in a liquid acid catalyst (a) and over a sulfonic acid resin(b).

The following subchapters cover various solid superacids, including perfluorinated sulfonic acid resins (Nafion resins). Furthermore, in the past, various attempts have been made to obtain solid superacids by either (a) enhancing the intrinsic acidity of a solid acid by treatment with a suitable co-acid or (b) physically or chemically binding a liquid superacid to an otherwise inert surface. We will briefly review some of these attempts because most of these catalysts rapidly lose activity and need to be regenerated. 

The new Nafion-nanocomposite catalysts are produced by DuPont and marketed as Nation SAC materials with Nation loading between 10% and 20%. Additional information for perfluorinated sulfonic acid resin nanocomposites including characterization by a variety of physical and chemical methods can be found in a recent... 

InAlk [Indirect Alkylation] A process for converting C3 and C4 streams in oil refinery to C6 to C8 streams for use in gasoline. The catalyst is either a sulfonic acid resin or solid phosphoric acid. Developed by UOP from 2000. 

Liquid phase isobutane/butene-2 alkylation was conducted at 0 -60°c using a stirred-tank reactor in the presence of a catalyst comprising of a macro-reticular acid cation exchange resin and boron trifluoride. Neither BF3 nor resin alone was effective for alkylation. For the sulfonic acid resin/BF3 sys-... 

The sulfonic acid resins such as Dowex-50 and Amberlyst-15 have been used to promote the alkylation of the more active aromatic rings but attempts to increase their acidity generally resulted in the degradation of the solid. 2 The more strongly acidic perfluorinated resin sulfonic acid, Nafion-H,2>3 has, however, been used to promote the alkylation of benzene and other aromatic compounds. Nafion-H catalyzed the vapor phase reaction between toluene and methanol. When nm at 185°C a 12% yield of the isomeric xylenes was obtained with the ortho isomer the major product. 0 Methylation of phenol at 205°C over this catalyst gave, at 63% conversion. 37% anisole and 10% of a mixture of the ortho and para cresols in a 2 1 ratio. Reaction of anisole with methanol under these conditions resulted in a 14% selectivity to the methyl anisoles at 40% conversion, with the ortho and para isomers formed in nearly equal amounts. ... 

The cyclopropenone acetals 9 were hydrolyzed by treatment with the sulfonic acid resin, Am-berlyst 15, in aqueous tetrahydrofuran to give cyclopropenones 10. In the case of the vinyl and aryl derivative, Amberlyst 15 treated with 2,6-di- ert-butylpyridine was used as a catalyst (see Table 1). ... 

Sulfonic acid resins can be used as solid catalysts for esterifications and other acid-catalyzed reactions. Am-berlyst 15 was a more effective catalyst for the preparation of esters of phenethyl alcohol and cyclohexanol than sulfated zirconia, an acid clay, and dodecatungstophos-phoric acid.113 (Amberlyst and Amberlite are trademarks of Rohm Haas.) (See Chap. 6 for more detail on solid acids and bases.) The same catalyst gave 86-96% yields of hydroxyesters when a lactone was stored with a hy-droxyacid.114 Diols can be monoacylated in 58-92% yields by transesterification with ethyl propionate in the presence of Dowex 50W (a product of the Dow Chemical Co.).115 Modification of the sulfonic acid resin with 2-mercaptoethylamine produced a catalyst for the reaction of phenol with acetone to produce bisphenol A (5.30) in 99.5% yield.116 After 20 cycles the yield was still 98.7%. When used as catalysts, ion-exchange resins can last for 6 months to 2 years. 

Fatty esters of sorbitan are commercially available as "Span" surfactants and have many applications. A common industrial route for the production of the Span esters is based on a two-step procedure, with acid-catalyzed sorbitol cyclization to sorbitan, followed by high-temperature alkali-catalyzed transeslerification. Alternatively, the cyclization and esterification can be conducted exclusively with acid catalysts, resulting in the isosorbide dicstcr, which can be applied as plasticizer. Conventional catalysts include p-TsOH and a sulfonic acid resin. 

Several zeolites in the II-form, two activated clays, a silica-alumina, a sulfonic acid resin and a silica-occluded heteropoly acid were tested in the reaction of cyclohcxcne and toluene (excess) at 110 °C [64]. The ortho / meta / para ratio of the mixtures strongly depends on the structure of the catalysts involved. With zeolite H-USY and Filtrol-24 as active catalysts the meta / para ratio is found to be about 2 1, in agreement with the thermodynamic equilibrium, and the ortho-isomer is essentially absent.By contrast 11-Bcta and H-mordenite gave a meta /para ratio of 1 4.5. As H-USY appeared to be a good isomerization catalyst for the cyclohexyltoluenes, the mechanism may involve ortho / para-alkylation followed by isomerization. Researchers of UOP (Dcs Plaines, USA) found a separation method for meta / para cyclohexyltoluenc (undisclosed technique). Altogether the results open a new low-waste route to 3-methylbiphenyl. 

Sulfonic acid resins, which are the most active catalysts, are less selective for 4 than H-BEA, because the narrow pores of this zeolite limit the formation of bulky secondary products [3,22], Upon cooling of the reaction mixture 4 crystallizes. This crystallization, and the recycling of the other components of the equilibrium mixture provides an efficient and clean method for the commercial synthesis of... 

A variety of ion exchange resins with strong and weak acid, weak base, and quaternary ammonium ion functionality are available in bead form well suited for filtration from reaction mixtures and for use in continuous flow processes. They have been used for >30 years in flow systems for water deionization. Sulfonic acid resins are already used on a large scale as catalysts for the addition of methanol to isobutylene to form methyl terr-butyl ether, for the hydration of propene to isopropyl alcohol, and for a variety of smaller scale processes. Tertiary amine resins have been used as catalysts for the addition of alcohols to isocyanates to form urethanes. The quaternary ammonium ion resins could be used as reagents with any of a large number of counter ions, and as catalysts in two and three phase reaction mixtures, although the author is not aware of any commercial process of this sort at present. 

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