Amine modified catalysts for bisphenol production
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorJames Lawrence Spivack
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Abstract
The acid catalyzed condensation of phenol with acetone in the presence of a thiol promoter to produce bisphenol A is found to occur with greater overall selectivity when the catalyst employed is an amine modified acidic resin catalyst. Amine modified acidic resin catalysts are prepared from acidic resins such as sulfonated polystyrene by neutralization of a portion of the acidic functional groups present with an amine such as pyridine. Where the thiol promoter is itself an amine the use of an amine such as pyridine as the modifying agent reduces the amount of thiol promoter required to achieve high selectivity.
Claims27
A method for making a bisphenol, said method comprising contacting a mixture comprising a hydroxyaromatic compound and a ketone or an aldehyde with an amine modified acidic resin catalyst at a temperature in a range between about 25° C. and about 95° C. in the presence of a thiol promoter, said amine modified acidic resin catalyst being prepared from an acidic resin comprising acidic functional groups by neutralizing a portion of said acidic functional groups with an amine, said amine being distinct from any thiol promoter which itself comprises an amine group.
A method for making bisphenol A, said method comprising contacting a mixture of phenol and acetone and a thiol promoter in the presence of an amine modified acidic resin catalyst at a temperature in a range between about 50° C. and about 80° C., said phenol being present in an amount in a range between about 90 and about 95 percent by weight, said acetone being present in an amount in a range between about 4 and about 6 percent by weight, said thiol promoter being present in an amount between about 10 and about 100 mmol/L of reactants, said amine modified acidic resin catalyst being prepared from an acidic resin comprising acidic functional groups by neutralizing a portion of said acidic functional groups with an amine, said amine being distinct from any thiol promoter which itself comprises an amine group.
A method for making bisphenol A, said method comprising contacting a mixture of phenol and acetone in the presence of an amine modified acidic resin catalyst at a temperature in a range between about 50° C. and about 80° C., said phenol being present in an amount in a range between about 90 and about 95 percent by weight of said mixture, said acetone being present in an amount in a range between about 4 and about 6 percent by weight of said mixture, said amine modified acidic resin catalyst being prepared from an acidic resin comprising acidic functional groups by neutralizing a portion of said acidic functional groups with an amine, said amine being distinct from any thiol promoter which itself comprises an amine group, said amine modified acidic resin catalyst further comprising a thiol promoter, said thiol promoter containing a functional group selected from the group consisting of amino groups, amido groups, imido groups and carbamyl groups;
- said thiol promoter being present in an amount between about 0.5 and about 2 mmol per gram of resin.
An amine modified acidic resin catalyst, said amine modified acidic resin catalyst being prepared from an acidic resin comprising acidic functional groups by neutralizing a portion of said acidic functional groups with an amine, said amine being distinct from any thiol promoter which itself comprises an amine group, said catalyst comprising:
- sulfonated polystyrene units I
- and residues derived from the group consisting of aromatic amines, aliphatic amines and cycloaliphatic amines;
- said catalyst further comprising a thiol promoter comprising an amino, amido, imido, or carbamyl group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.