Oil-soluble high metal content transitional metal organic oxy, hydroxy, complexes

A method for preparing oil-soluble and hydrocarbon-soluble highly overbased mangano-organic compositions which comprises the steps of

• (a) providing a mixture comprising an acid soluble manganese compound, water, a diluent and a mixture of at least two different aliphatic or alicyclic monocarboxylic acids or a mixture of one or more aliphatic or alicyclic carboxylic and aliphatic or aromatic monosulfonic acids containing at least two carbon atoms, wherein at least one of the acids of the mixture is a monocarboxylic acid containing at least seven carbon atoms, and when the second acid is also a monocarboxylic acid, the second acid contains a number of carbon atoms in its longest chain differing by at least two carbon atoms from the total number of carbon atoms in the other, the mole ratio of manganese to total moles of organic acid in the mixture being greater than 1,
• (b) heating the mixture to initiate an exothermic reaction,
• (c) maintaining the mixture at an elevated temperature and under sufficient pressure to prevent substantial volatilization of the water present until the desired manganese content or a substantially constant maximum reacted manganese content is obtained,
• (d) removing substantially all of the free water from the mixture,
• (e) treating the heated mixture with oxygen to oxidize the mixture, and
• (f) recovering the overbased composition as a solution in the diluent.

A method of preparing oil-soluble and hydrocarbon-soluble overbased organo manganese, cobalt, iron, copper and nickel compositions which comprises the steps of

• (a) providing a mixture containing
• (i) as a metal source, cuprous oxide, a metal selected from the group consisting of manganese, cobalt, iron, copper and nickel, mixtures thereof, or mixtures thereof with other metals,
• (ii) an organic acid mixture comprising at least two different aliphatic or alicyclic monocarboxylic acids or one or more aliphatic or alicyclic monocarboxylic acids and aliphatic or aromatic monosulfonic acids containing at least two carbon atoms, at least one of the acids being a monocarboxylic acid containing at least seven carbon atoms, and when the second acid also is a monocarboxylic acid, the second acid contains a number of carbon atoms in its longest chain, differing by at least two carbon atoms from the total number of carbon atoms in the other,
• (iii) water, and
• (iv) a diluent, and wherein the ratio of total metal moles to total moles of acid is greater than 1;
• (b) treating the mixture with oxygen while maintaining the mixture at the reflux temperature until a desired soluble metal content is obtained,
• (c) dehydrating the reaction mixture until substantially all of the water is removed, and
• (d) recovering the product as a solution in the diluent.