EPOSIDATION PROCESS PROVIDING LOW OLEFIN OLIGOMER BY- PRODUCT FORMATION

摘要

IMPROVED EPOXIDATION PROCESS PROVIDING LOW OLEFIN OLIGOMER BY-PRODUCT FORMATION (D#80,314-F) A method of preparing an epoxide compound by reacting an olefinically unsaturated compound with an organic hydroperoxide in the presence of a molybdenum catalyst is described. The amount of alkylene oligomer by-products in the crude reactor effluent is routinely 10 ppm or less. In the case where propylene oxide is made, this translates to about 40 ppm or less on a "pure propylene oxide" basis. The very small amount of alkylene oligomer by-product can be left in the alkylene oxide product thus avoiding a costly distillation step. The reaction should be conducted at a temperature between about 90 and 140.degree.C, preferably 100 to 130.degree.C. Preferably, the mole ratio of olefinically unsaturated compound to organic hydroperoxide is 0.9:1 to 3.0:1. It was surprisingly discovered that the method of this invention works much better with t-butyl hydroperoxide as the organic hydroperoxide than with other hydroperoxides such as cumene hydroperoxide.