ES379824A1 - Procedure to produce active surface agents. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Procedure for producing surface active agents, which respond to the general formula: **(See formula)** where R is a linear alkyl group containing from about 4 to 30 carbon atoms, R'is an acyclic alkyl group containing from about 1 to 30 carbon atoms and the sum of R and R' is 8 atoms of carbon at least, R'' is a linear alkyl group containing from about 8 to 30 carbon atoms and M is a cation selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Ca, Mg, NH4 and substituted ammonium, the process of which is characterized by comprising: the reduction of a phenyl alkanoic acid, such as phenyl undecanoic or phenyl stearic acid, by mixing it in an autoclave with one to ten times its volume of water and preferably twice its volume, and from 0.5 to 10% by weight of rhenium metal catalyst and particularly a solution of perrenic acid, the container is hermetically sealed, pressurized with hydrogen at 70.3-351 kg/cm2 psi, preferably 175, 77 Kg/cm2 psi, heat to 175-275ºC, preferably 200-225ºC, and stirred for 2 to 6 hours until no absorption of hydrogen is seen, then proceeding to cooling and ventilation of the container, isolating the catalyst for reuse by filtration, being able, if desired, to isolate it by distillation the resulting phenyl-alkyl alcohol, which is subsequently sulfated by sulphonation with SO3, reacting it with 1.5 to 2.1 times, preferably 2 times its molar amount of SO3, at a temperature of 40 to 45ºC and in the presence of some inert solvent such as hexane, using dry air as diluent gas in the sulfonation, the crude reaction mixture is subsequently mixed with an equimolar amount of metal hydroxide solution such as sodium hydroxide and the solid product can be isolated from the aqueous solution by drying by spraying. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)