Electrochemical epoxidation of olefins

Conference · Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA)

OSTI ID:5369294

van der Eijk, J M ^[1]

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1. Koninklijke/Shell-Laboratorium, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Direct epoxidation of an olefin, using oxygen and a catalyst, only proceeds with a high yield in the case of ethene. All commercial processes for the epoxidation of higher olefins therefore make use of an indirect route, yielding a co-product besides the desired epoxide. From an economic point of view this is an unfavorable situation since it couples the manufacture of two products. Recently, we have made a comprehensive study of a non-conventional method involving the electrochemical oxidation of olefins to epoxides. The major technical challenge posed by the electrochemical route to epoxides is the identification of conditions under which the desired reaction proceeds selectively. An exploratory study had indicated that the direct oxidation of olefins at the surface of catalytically active anodes (Pt, silver oxide, nickel oxide, lead ruthenates (1)) proceeds either slowly or non-selectively. A more promising approach was expected to be electrochemical (re)generation of an epoxidation agent at the anode of an electrochemical cell and carrying out the epoxidation in the anolyte solution. Epoxidation agents of interest included thallium (III) acetate complexes, hypobromite and silver(II)-pyridine complexes. Here we report on the electrochemical oxidation of olefins as mediated by silver-pyridine complexes. Subjects to be dealt with include the chemical efficacy of the process as well as the kinettics and mechanism of the olefin-Ag(II) reaction.

• OSTI ID: 5369294
• Report Number(s): CONF-8708314-; CODEN: ACPCA
• Journal Information: American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA), Vol. 32:3; Conference: Symposium on hydrocarbon oxidation, New Orleans, LA (USA), 30 Aug - 4 Sep 1987; ISSN 0569-3799
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
02 PETROLEUM
ALKENES
OXIDATION
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
PYRIDINE
SILVER COMPLEXES
AZINES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
COMPLEXES
DATA
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
KINETICS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PYRIDINES
REACTION KINETICS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPLEXES
400400* - Electrochemistry
020400 - Petroleum- Processing