GB683267A - Improvements in the production of organic oxygen compounds - Google Patents

Abstract

Organic oxygen compounds are obtained by the continuous interaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen with olefinic compounds at elevated temperature and superatmospheric pressure in the presence of cobalt, the mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and a vaporous cobalt compound, or the olefinic compound being introduced into the reaction space at various points. The gaseous or liquid olefine may be introduced, for example, through a tube extending into the reaction vessel, the tube containing a plurality of nozzles. The nozzles may be arranged on the wall of the inner tube at regular intervals and may, for example, be arranged spirally. Alternatively, the synthesis gas, i.e. a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and a gaseous cobalt compound, e.g. cobalt carbonyl or cobalt carbonyl hydride, may be introduced through a tube having a plurality of nozzles into a reaction space through which the olefine is flowing. The reaction temperature may be within the range 80-200 DEG C. The CO : H2 ratio may vary between the limits 2 : 1-1 : 3 or higher. If the formation of aldehydes is desired it is preferable to use a ratio of about 1 : 1. The preferred pressure is between 100 and 300 atmospheres. Suitable olefinic compounds are ethylene and its homologues, e.g. propylene, n- and isobutene, amylenes, diisobutylenes and cracked gasoline fractions up to higher molecular olefines such as octadecene; olefinic compounds having nuclear hydrocarbon substituents or being of nuclear structure, such as cyclohexene, vinylcyclohexane, styrene, pinene as well as oxygenated olefinic compounds such as allyl alcohol, its esters and ethers, esters of unsaturated carboxylic acids such as methacrylates. In the examples, carbon monoxide and hydrogen are reacted with (a) isobutylene to give iso-valeraldehyde and (b) ethylene to give propionaldehyde in the presence of a cobalt catalyst, the olefine compound or the mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen being introduced into the reaction vessel at a plurality of points.