Vinyl acetate, formation

The mechanism of vinyl acetate formation is closely related to that of the Wacker oxidation (Scheme 9.11) that is, acetoxypalladation-palladium hydride elimination takes place.498,503 The coordinated alkene is attacked by the external nucleophile acetate ion, or the attack may occur within the coordination sphere. p-Hydride elimination followed by dissociation of the coordinated molecule yields directly the vinyl acetate end product. 

Samanos, B., Boutry, P., The mechanism of vinyl acetate formation by ethylene acetoxidation,/. Catal, 1971... 

Samanos, B., Boutrv, P., and Montamal, R. The Mechanism of Vinyl Acetate Formation by Gas-Phase Catalytic Ethylene Acetoxidatioo, J. Catal., 23, 19-30 (1971). 

The role of gold in the Pd/Au/K acetate catalysts is to stabilize the size of Pd crystallites and avoid sintering. The role of potassium acetate is to maintain the catalyst activity and decrease CO2 selectivity. Potassium acetate favours a strong adsorption of acetic acid on palladium, lowering the barrier to vinyl acetate formation. Gold by itself is inactive in the catalysis of vinyl acetate. Pd only catalysts produce vinyl acetate at much lower rates than the Pd/Au/K catalyst system and their activity decays rapidly. 

The liquid and gas phase catalyst systems for vinyl acetate are based on the same components no coincidence as the latter was developed after the discovery of the former. They differ mainly in the reoxidation of Pd(0), which is carried out by Cu(II) in the liquid phase process and is not necessary in the gas phase process. It therefore seems tempting to suggest that the chemistry is similar in both cases, at least as far as the vinyl acetate formation is concerned. 

The formation of vinyl acetate from ethylene was first reported by Moiseev et al. (31), The compound was obtained by reaction of ethylene with PdCl2 in an acetic acid solution containing sodium acetate. Whether in this medium vinyl acetate formation occurs via the monomeric [PdCla C2H4] TT-complex, postulated as intermediate in the Wacker acetaldehyde process, or via the dimer (C2H4 PdCl2)2, previously described by... 

If for this gas-phase reaction the contemporary presence of a palladium" species, acetic acid, alkali acetate, ethylene, and oxygen is necessary, a classical heterogeneous catalysis seems to be rather unlikely preferably a sequence of single reactions, as in the homogeneous phase, has to be assumed. This could occur within the acetic acid film adsorbed on the carrier. Thus vinyl acetate formation in the gas-phase might occur according to eq. (lb) (M = Li, Na, K) and the overall reaction follows eq. (16). 

However, earlier findings [247] showed that very highly dispersed palladium catalysts had very low activity for VA formation. This was attributed to the very small particles being inaccessible to the ethene feed due to their being completely embedded within the acetic acid/acetate liquid layer (ethene has very low solubility in acetic acid). Vinyl acetate formation may therefore be restricted to the larger Pd-Au alloy particles accessible to gaseous ethene. This... 

Fig. 19. The ovoall catalytic route for the synthesis for vinyl acetate formation from ethylene, acetic acid in the absence of oxygen on a model Pd(l 11) sur ce.

Successful results have been obtained (Renfrew and Chaney, 1946) with ethyl formate methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, n-butyl, iso-butyl, sec.-butyl and iso-amyl acetat ethyleneglycol diacetate ethyl monochloro- and trichloro-acetates methyl, n-propyl, n-octyl and n-dodecyl propionates ethyl butyrate n-butyl and n-amyl valerates ethyl laurate ethyl lactate ethyl acetoacetate diethyl carbonate dimethyl and diethyl oxalates diethyl malonate diethyl adipate di-n-butyl tartrate ethyl phenylacetate methyl and ethyl benzoates methyl and ethyl salicylates diethyl and di-n-butyl phthalates. The method fails for vinyl acetate, ieri.-butyl acetate, n-octadecyl propionate, ethyl and >i-butyl stearate, phenyl, benzyl- and guaicol-acetate, methyl and ethyl cinnamate, diethyl sulphate and ethyl p-aminobenzoate. 

Soon after the invention of the Wacicer process, the formation of vinyl acetate by the reaction of ethylene with PdCh in AcOH in the presence of sodium acetate was reported[106,107]. No reaction takes place in the absence of base. The reaction of Pd(OAc)T with ethylene forms vinyl acetate. 

This oxidation process for olefins has been exploited commercially principally for the production of acetaldehyde, but the reaction can also be apphed to the production of acetone from propylene and methyl ethyl ketone [78-93-3] from butenes (87,88). Careflil control of the potential of the catalyst with the oxygen stream in the regenerator minimises the formation of chloroketones (94). Vinyl acetate can also be produced commercially by a variation of this reaction (96,97). 

The metals are impregnated together or separately from soluble species, eg, Na2PdCl4 and HAuCl or acetates (159), and are fixed by drying or precipitation prior to reduction. In some instances sodium or potassium acetate is added as a promoter (160). The reaction of acetic acid, ethylene, and oxygen over these catalysts at ca 180°C and 618—791 kPa (75—100 psig) results in the formation of vinyl acetate with 92—94% selectivity the only other... 

Many different combinations of surfactant and protective coUoid are used in emulsion polymerizations of vinyl acetate as stabilizers. The properties of the emulsion and the polymeric film depend to a large extent on the identity and quantity of the stabilizers. The choice of stabilizer affects the mean and distribution of particle size which affects the rheology and film formation. The stabilizer system also impacts the stabiUty of the emulsion to mechanical shear, temperature change, and compounding. Characteristics of the coalesced resin affected by the stabilizer include tack, smoothness, opacity, water resistance, and film strength (41,42). 

Emulsion polymerizations of vinyl acetate in the presence of ethylene oxide- or propylene oxide-based surfactants and protective coUoids also are characterized by the formation of graft copolymers of vinyl acetate on these materials. This was also observed in mixed systems of hydroxyethyl cellulose and nonylphenol ethoxylates. The oxyethylene chain groups supply the specific site of transfer (111). The concentration of insoluble (grafted) polymer decreases with increase in surfactant ratio, and (max) is observed at an ethoxylation degree of 8 (112). 

Poly(vinyl alcohol) can be derived from the hydrolysis of a variety of poly(vinyl esters), such as poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl formate), and poly(vinyl ben2oate), and of poly(vinyl ethers). However, all commercially produced poly(vinyl alcohol) is manufactured by the hydrolysis of poly(vinyl acetate). The manufacturing process can be viewed as one segment that deals with the polymeri2ation of vinyl acetate and another that handles the hydrolysis of poly(vinyl acetate) to poly(vinyl alcohol). 

Commercial Hydrolysis Process. The process of converting poly(vinyl acetate) to poly(vinyl alcohol) on a commercial scale is compHcated on account of the significant physical changes that accompany the conversion. The viscosity of the poly(vinyl acetate) solution increases rapidly as the conversion proceeds, because the resulting poly(vinyl alcohol) is insoluble in the most common solvents used for the polymeri2ation of vinyl acetate. The outcome is the formation of a gel swollen with the resulting acetic acid ester and the alcohol used to effect the transesterification. 

The Q-e Scheme. The magnitude of and T2 can frequentiy be correlated with stmctural effects, such as polar and resonance factors. For example, in the free-radical polymerization of vinyl acetate with styrene, both styrene and vinyl acetate radicals preferentially add styrene because of the formation of the resonance stabilized polystyrene radical. 

It was found that the amount of chlorine that could be removed (84-87%) was in close agreement to that predicted by Flory on statistical grounds for structure Figure 12.10(a). It is of interest to note that similar statistical calculations are of relevance in the cyclisation of natural rubber and in the formation of the poly(vinyl acetals) and ketals from poly(vinyl alcohol). Since the classical work of Marvel it has been shown by diverse techniques that head-to-tail structures are almost invariably formed in addition polymerisations. 

Treatment of poly(vinyl alcohol) with aldehydes and ketones leads to the formation of poly(vinyl acetals) and poly(vinyl ketals), of which only the former products are of any commercial significance Figure 14.7). 

The process is similar to the catalytic liquid-phase oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde. The difference hetween the two processes is the presence of acetic acid. In practice, acetaldehyde is a major coproduct. The mole ratio of acetaldehyde to vinyl acetate can he varied from 0.3 1 to 2.5 1. The liquid-phase process is not used extensively due to corrosion problems and the formation of a fairly wide variety of by-products. 

It has been shown52 that under similar conditions reduction of the nitrile groups in cellulose ethyl cyanate and of those in the copolymer of vinylidene cyanide with vinyl acetate, proceed simultaneously in two directions with the formation of aldehyde and amine groups. g+ g ... 

In contrast to the behavior of 3-hexyne in trifluoroacetic acid, addition of HCl in acetic acid yields essentially rra s-3-chloro-3-hexene (48%) and 3-hexanone (52%) as products, with less than 1% of the cis chloride (31,42,43). The 3-hexanone has been shown to arise from an intermediate vinyl acetate. The kinetics are complicated, but they seem to be of first order in substrate and second order in HCl. Added tetramethylammonium chloride increases the rate of product formation and changes the product composition to >95% trans-3-chloro-3-hexene and <5% 3-hexanone. A termolecular electrophilic addition via an intermediate such as 14 has been proposed (31,42) to account for these data. 

The reaction of crotonaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone with thiophenol in the presence of anhydrous hydrogen chloride effects conjugate addition of thiophenol as well as acetal formation. The resulting j3-phenylthio thioacetals are converted to 1-phenylthio-and 2-phenylthio-1,3-butadiene, respectively, upon reaction with 2 equivalents of copper(I) trifluoromethanesulfonate (Table I). The copper(I)-induced heterolysis of carbon-sulfur bonds has also been used to effect pinacol-type rearrangements of bis(phenyl-thio)methyl carbinols. Thus the addition of bis(phenyl-thio)methyllithium to ketones and aldehydes followed by copper(I)-induced rearrangement results in a one-carbon ring expansion or chain-insertion transformation which gives a-phenylthio ketones. Monothioketals of 1,4-diketones are cyclized to 2,5-disubstituted furans by the action of copper(I) trifluoromethanesulfonate. ... 

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