Process for the preparation of alkylene glycols
AssigneeSaudi Basic Industries Corporation
InventorsJaap Van Hal, John Ledford, Xiankuan Zhang
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Abstract
Disclosed is a process for the preparation of alkylene glycols from the corresponding alkylene oxide, such as ethylene glycol from ethylene oxide, in the presence of water, a catalyst and, optionally, carbon dioxide. The catalyst is a SALEN-type compound which contains an amino group and an oxy or hydroxy group connected by a hydrocarbon, such as an alkyl or an alkylaryl. The SALEN-type compounds may be Schiff bases, i.e., a condensate product of a primary amine with an aldehyde, ketone or an alcohol. The SALEN-type compound may be a mono or bis compound and may be complexed with a Group 4-14 metal, such as aluminum, tin, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt or platinum.
Claims26
A process for the preparation of alkylene glycols comprising reacting an alkylene oxide with water in the presence of a SALEN-type compounds containing R1—NR20 or R3-7Ar—NR2OH where R1 is an alkyl of 1 to 6 carbon atoms, R2 is hydrogen or an alkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, alkylamino group of two to six carbon atoms, halogens, an alkenyl of two to six carbon atoms, hydroxyl, nitro, thiol, amines, amino, imines, amide, phosphoryls, phosphonates, phosphines, carbonyls, R3-7 is hydrogen, an alkyl or cycloalkyl group and may be same or different and Ar is an aromatic ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.