Process for the preparation of carboxylic acids or esters thereof
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorEit Drent
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for the preparation of carboxylic acids or of esters thereof by contacting an olefinically unsaturated compound with CO in the presence of water or an alcohol, respectively, and of a catalytic system prepared by combining a ruthenium compound and a compound having a non-coordinating anion of an acid with a pK.sub.a below 0.5; compositions comprising a ruthenium compound and a salt having a non-coordinating anion of an acid with a pK.sub.a below 0.5 are novel.
Claims25
A process for the preparation of carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid esters which process comprises contacting, at a temperature in the range of from 100.degree. C. to 250.degree. C. and a pressure in the range of from 5 to 200 bar, one or more olefinically unsaturated compounds having in the range of from 2 to 30 carbon atoms per molecule with carbon monoxide in the presence of a material selected from the group consisting of water and alcohols, and in the presence of a catalytic system which consists essentially of a combination of one or more of each of the following components:
- component (a)-a ruthenium compound, and
- component (b)-a salt having a non-coordinating anion of an acid with a pK.sub.a below 0.5, as measured at 25.degree. C. in aqueous solution, in a quantity in the range of from 0.1 to 100 equivalents per gram-atom of ruthenium.
The process of claim 3, wherein component (b) is a salt having an anion selected from the group consisting of anions of trifluoromethanesulphonic acid, of tetrafluoroboric acid and of hexafluorophosphoric acid.
A process for the preparation of carboxylic acids which process comprises contacting, at a temperature in the range of from 100.degree. C. to 250.degree. C. and a pressure in the range of from 5 to 200 bar, one or more olefinically unsaturated compounds having in the range of from 2 to 30 carbon atoms per molecule with carbon monoxide in the presence of water, and in the presence of a catalytic system which consists essentially of a combination of one or more of each of the following:
- component (a)-a ruthenium compound, and
- component (b)-a salt having a non-coordinating anion of an acid with a pK.sub.a below 0.5, as measured at 25.degree. C. in aqueous solution, in a quantity in the range of from 0.1 to 100 equivalents per gram-atoms of ruthenium.
A process for the preparation of carboxylic acid esters which process comprises contacting, at a temperature in the range of from 100.degree. C. to 250.degree. C. and a pressure in the range of from 5 to 200 bar, one or more olefinically unsaturated compounds having in the range of from 2 to 30 carbon atoms per molecule with carbon monoxide in the presence of one or more alcohols, and in the presence of a catalytic system which consists essentially of a combination of one or more of each of the following:
- component (a)-a ruthenium compound, and
- component (b)-a salt having a non-coordinating anion of an acid with a pK.sub.a below 0.5, as measured at 25.degree. C. in aqueous solution, in a quantity in the range of from 0.1 to 100 equivalents per gram-atom of ruthenium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.