| PATENT ASSIGNEE'S COUNTRY | Germany |
| UPDATE | 11.99 |
| PATENT NUMBER | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT GRANT DATE | 16.11.99 |
| PATENT TITLE |
Polyformamides and polyamines |
| PATENT ABSTRACT |
Polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units, obtainable by catalytic reaction of nitrile-containing polymers in the presence of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds, are described. |
| PATENT INVENTORS | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT ASSIGNEE | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT FILE DATE | 28.12.98 |
| PATENT FOREIGN APPLICATION PRIORITY DATA | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT REFERENCES CITED |
Chemical Abstract 123:2302221, "Thermoplastic Resin Compositions with Impact Resistance and Rigidity", Mar. 1995. Chemical Abstract 68:50158, "Polymerization and Copolymerization of Allylamides", Dec. 1967. |
| PATENT PARENT CASE TEXT | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT CLAIMS |
We claim: 1. A polymer comprising, as end groups or side groups of the polymer, nitrile groups and at least some N-substituted formamide repeating units, which polymer is obtained by catalytically reacting a polymer which contains at least some nitrile containing repeating units in the presence of 1) hydrogen and 2) carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds, wherein the polymer which contains at least some nitrile containing repeating units is a homopolymer of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated C.sub.3 - to C.sub.7 -nitriles or is a copolymer of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated C.sub.3 - to C.sub.7 -nitriles with monomers selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propene, 1,3-butadiene and styrene. 2. The polymer defined in claim 1, wherein the polymer which contains at least some nitrile containing repeating units is a homopolymer of acrylonitrile or a copolymer of acrylonitrile with monomers selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propene, 1,3-butadiene and styrene. 3. The polymer defined in claim 1, wherein from 10 to 100 mol-% of the polymer units comprise a nitrile group or an N-substituted formamide group. 4. The polymer defined in claim 1, comprising up to 50 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups and N-substituted formamide groups. 5. The polymer defined in claim 1, comprising up to 20 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups and N-substituted formamide groups. 6. The polymer defined in claim 1, comprising 16 mol-% or less of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups and N-substituted formamide groups. 7. The polymer defined in claim 1, further comprising, as end groups or side groups, amino groups. 8. The polymer defined in claim 7, wherein from 10 to 100 mol-% of the polymer units comprise a nitrile group, an N-substituted formamide group or an amino group. 9. The polymer defined in claim 7, comprising up to 50 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups, N-substituted formamide groups and amino groups. 10. The polymer defined in claim 7, comprising up to 20 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups, N-substituted formamide groups and amino groups. 11. The polymer defined in claim 7, comprising from 16 mol-% or less of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups, N-substituted formamide groups and amino groups. 12. The polymer defined in claim 2, wherein from 10 to 100 mol-% of the polymer units comprise a nitrile group or an N-substituted formamide group. 13. The polymer defined in claim 2, comprising up to 50 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups and N-substituted formamide groups. 14. The polymer defined in claim 2, comprising up to 20 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups and N-substituted formamide groups. 15. The polymer defined in claim 2, comprising 16 mol-% or less of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups and N-substituted formamide groups. 16. The polymer defined in claim 2, further comprising, as end groups or side groups, amino groups. 17. The polymer defined in claim 16, wherein from 10 to 100 mol-% of the polymer units comprise a nitrile group, an N-substituted formamide group or an amino group. 18. The polymer defined in claim 16, comprising up to 50 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups, N-substituted formamide groups and amino groups. 19. The polymer defined in claim 16, comprising up to 20 mol-% of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups, N-substituted formamide groups and amino groups. 20. The polymer defined in claim 16, comprising 16 mol-% or less of nitrile groups based on the sum of the molar amounts of nitrile groups, N-substituted formamide groups and amino groups. |
| PATENT DESCRIPTION |
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units, by catalytic reaction of nitrile-containing polymers in the presence of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds, a process for the preparation of polyamines by hydrolysis of polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units, polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units, polyamines, and the use of the polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units for the preparation of polyamines. The polymers according to the invention, which contain N-substituted formamide structural units ##STR1## are called polyformamides according to the invention, for the sake of simplicity, in the following; the polymers according to the invention, which contain amine structural units, are for the same reason called polyamines according to the invention in the following. Polyamines play a large part as auxiliaries in the paper industry, in wastewater treatment and in the mineral oil industry. Until now, they were mainly prepared by ethylene/amine polymerization. These polymers, however, are relatively expensive. It is an object of the present invention to make available polyamides and polyamines from inexpensive starting materials using an industrially simple and widely employable process. We have found that this object is achieved by a process for the preparation of polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units by a catalytic reaction of nitrile-containing polymers in the presence of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds and a process for the preparation of polyamines by hydrolysis of polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units and which are obtainable by catalytic hydrogenation/reaction of nitrile-containing polymers in the presence of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds. We have furthermore found polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units and which are obtainable by catalytic reaction of nitrile-containing polymers in the presence of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds, polyamines obtainable by hydrolysis of polymers which contain N-substituted formamide structural units and which are obtainable by catalytic reaction of nitrile-containing polymers in the presence of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds, and the use of the polyformamides according to the invention for the preparation of the polyamines according to the invention. Suitable nitrile-containing polymers are all polymeric compounds which contain at least one nitrile group (--CN). The nitrile group or the nitrile groups can be present as end group(s) or preferably as side groups. The average content of the nitrile groups in the polymer (calculated as acrylonitrile) is in general in the range from 10 to 100 mol %, preferably from 30 to 100 mol %, based on the total amount of monomers in the polymer. Highly suitable nitrile-containing polymers are those which are obtainable by homopolymerization of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated C.sub.3 - to C.sub.7 -nitriles, such as acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile, or which are obtainable by the copolymerization of the described .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated nitriles with olefinically unsaturated C.sub.2 - to C.sub.20 -monomers, such as ethylene, propene, 1,3-butadiene or preferably styrene. Polymers of this type, as well as processes for their preparation, are known and described, for example, in Kirk-Othmer, Encycl. Chem. Techn., IVth Ed., Vol. 1, Acrylonitrile Polymers, pp. 370-411 and Vol. 10, Fibers (Acrylic), pp. 559-598. The nitrile-containing polymers preferably used are acrylonitrile homopolymers, in particular those having a molecular weight M.sub.w, measured by the light-scattering method, in the range from 1000 to 10,000,000, preferably in the range from 5000 to 5,000,000. In general, the nitrile-containing polymer is reacted in the presence of a transition metal catalyst with hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon monoxide-releasing compounds, at a pressure in the range from 50 to 600 bar, preferably in the range from 150 to 400 bar, and a temperature in the range from 20 to 300.degree. C., preferably in the range from 100 to 250.degree. C. Customarily, this reaction is carried out in organic solvents, such as formamides or pyrrolidones, and preferably in pyrrolidones such as N-methylpyrrolidone. Suitable transition metal catalysts are known to the person skilled in the art, inter alia, as hydrogenation catalysts and are commercially available. Highly suitable metals have turned out to be the transition metals of the first and fourth to tenth subgroup of the Periodic Table of the Elements, preferably iron, platinum, palladium, tungsten, uranium, nickel, rhenium, rhodium, manganese, ruthenium, copper, cobalt and in particular iron. Particularly suitable transition metal catalysts to be mentioned are carbonyl, hydrido or phosphine complexes of iron, platinum, palladium, tungsten, chromium, nickel, rhenium, rhodium, manganese, ruthenium or molybdenum, but also heterogeneous catalysts such as palladium or platinum on activated carbon, Raney nickel or Raney cobalt. The molar ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide is in general in the range from 10:1 to 0.1:1, but preferably in the range from 4:1 to to 0.25:1. Very good results are customarily achieved if synthesis gas (hydrogen:carbon monoxide-molar ratio=1:1) is used. The molar ratio of carbon monoxide to nitrile groups is in general in the range from 1:1 to 10,000:1, preferably in the range from 1:1 to 1000:1. The molar ratio of hydrogen to nitrile groups is in general in the range from 2:1 to 10,000:1, preferably in the range from 2:1 to 1000:1. Instead of carbon monoxide or preferably together with carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide-releasing compounds can be employed as carbonylating agents. Carbon monoxide-releasing compounds are to be understood as meaning those chemical compounds which release carbon monoxide under the reaction conditions according to the invention. Highly suitable compounds of this type are, for example, formic acid or its derivatives such as formamides and formates, in particular formamides. The molar ratio of carbon monoxide-releasing components to nitrile groups of the nitrile-containing polymers is in general in the range from 1:1 to 100:1. The polyformamides according to the invention obtainable by the process according to the invention in general contain the structural unit ##STR2## where R.sup.1 is hydrogen or an organic carbon substituent and R.sup.2 is an organic carbon substituent, the organic carbon substituents on the nitrogen atom being bonded to the polymer chain. The polyformamides according to the invention obtainable by the process according to the invention in general further contain from 0 to 80 mol %, preferably from 0 to 50 mol %, of nitrile groups as determined by means of IR spectroscopy: 1.5 g of substance are homogenized in 450 mg of KBr and measured in transmission as a KBr pellet. The reference sample is polyacrylonitrile (starting substance). Assessment is carried out according to the formula % conversion=(1-E.sub.CN (sample) /E.sub.CN (polyacrylonitrile)).times.100 E.sub.CN (sample) =extinction of the CN band of the sample E.sub.CN (polyacrylonitrile) =extinction of the CN band of the starting material polyacrylonitrile Beside the formamide groups, the polyformamides according to the invention can if desired further contain free amine groups and are in general readily soluble in aqueous acids, such as aqueous hydrochloric acid and can be reprecipitated by neutralization with bases, such as carbonates, hydrogencarbonates or hydroxides of alkali metals or alkaline earth metals. By hydrolysis of the polyformamides according to the invention, which is known to the person skilled in the art, if appropriate in the presence of acids or bases, the polyamines according to the invention can be prepared from the polyformamides according to the invention. Suitable hydrolysis conditions are temperatures in the range from 20 to 300.degree. C. Preferably, the hydrolysis can be carried out in the presence of acids, preferably strong mineral acids having a pK.sub.a of less than 3, such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or hydrogensulfate or else in the presence of bases, preferably strong bases having a pK.sub.B of greater than 6, such as carbonates, hydrogencarbonates or hydroxides of alkali metals or alkaline earth metals. The hydrolysis can also be carried out in the presence of catalysts. As a rule, the polyamines obtainable in this way have a total base content (total amine number), measured by titration of an acetic acid solution of the polyamine according to the invention with 0.5 M perchloric acid against Crystal Violet, in the range from 50 to 600, preferably in the range from 200 to 500. The polyamines according to the invention can be used, for example, as retention and dewatering aids in paper manufacture. |
| PATENT EXAMPLES | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT PHOTOCOPY | Available on request |
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