GB523635A - Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of unsaturated aliphatic compounds - Google Patents

Abstract

523,635. Esters; synthetic resins. BRITISH CELANESE, Ltd. Jan. 11, 1939, No. 946. Convention date, Jan. 11, 1938. [Class 2 (iii)] Allyl alcohols are converted into polymerizable alkyl esters of unsaturated acids by oxidizing the alcohol to the corresponding unsaturated aldehyde, treating the aldehyde with a concentrated alkali solution to form an alkali salt of the corresponding unsaturated acid, and converting the alkali salt into an ester by treatment with an alkyl ester of an inorganic acid. The alcohols treated include methyl- and ethyl-allyl alcohols, crotonyl alcohol and methyl-crotonyl alcohol, and the alkyl components of the ester may be methyl, ethyl, propyl or butyl. The oxidation is preferably effected with free oxygen in the vapour phase. The alkali treatment may be effected in aqueous or alcoholic solution or sodium or potassium hydroxide. The products may be polymerized to form synthetic resins, and as an aid to the prevention of the formation of bubbles during polymerization, a partially polymerized product may be first formed and mixed in finely divided form with a further quantity of the monomeric ester before the final polymerization and shaping are effected. In an example, methallyl alcohol is converted through methacrolein and sodium methacrylate to methyl methacrylate.