TREA

Polyurethane foam-supported double metal cyanide catalysts for polyether polyol synthesis

Follow

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 5652329
  • Patent Number
    5,652,329
  • Date Filed
    Friday, September 13, 1996
    28 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 29, 1997
    27 years ago
Information
Abstract
The polymerization of epoxides such as propylene oxide to polyether polyols is conducted in the presence of a polyurethane foam-supported double metal cyanide (DMC) catalyst comprising a DMC catalyst such as zinc hexacyanocobaltate which can contain a slight excess of a metal halide salt to attain crystallinity, and a polyurethane foam support.
Description
Claims
  • 1. A process for making an epoxide polymer, said process comprising polymerizing an epoxide in the presence of a polyurethane foam-supported double metal cyanide (DMC) catalyst, wherein the foam-supported DMC catalyst comprises:
  • (a) a DMC catalyst; and
  • (b) a polyurethane foam support;
  • wherein the DMC catalyst contains a slight excess of a metal halide salt and is substantially crystalline by powder X-ray diffraction analysis.
  • 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the epoxide is selected from the group consisting of ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, butylene oxide, and mixtures thereof.
  • 3. The process of claim 1 wherein the DMC catalyst is a zinc hexacyanocobaltate.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a division, of application Ser. No. 08/618,486, filed Mar. 19, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,075, which is a division of application Ser. No. 08/453,654, filed May 30, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,880, which is a division of application Ser. No. 08/354,644, filed Dec. 1, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,583, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/173,290, filed Dec. 23, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,081.

US Referenced Citations (22)
Number Name Date Kind
3278457 Milgrom Oct 1966
3278458 Belner Oct 1966
3404109 Milgrom Oct 1968
3427256 Milgrom Feb 1969
3427334 Herold Feb 1969
3427335 Herold Feb 1969
3538043 Herold Nov 1970
3900518 Milgrom Aug 1975
3941849 Herold Mar 1976
4355188 Herold et al. Oct 1982
4472560 Kuyper et al. Sep 1984
4477589 van der Hulst et al. Oct 1984
4721818 Harper et al. Jan 1988
4843054 Harper Jun 1989
4877906 Harper Oct 1989
4987271 Watabe et al. Jan 1991
5010047 Schuchardt Apr 1991
5099075 Katz et al. Mar 1992
5144093 Reisch et al. Sep 1992
5145883 Saito et al. Sep 1992
5158922 Hinney et al. Oct 1992
5223583 Higuchi et al. Jun 1993
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number Date Country
H6248068 Sep 1994 JPX
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry
J.L. Schuchardt et al., SPI Proceedings, 32nd Annual Polyurethane Tech./Market. Conf. (1989) 360.
Divisions (3)
Number Date Country
Parent 618486 Mar 1996
Parent 453654 May 1995
Parent 345644 Dec 1994
Continuation in Parts (1)
Number Date Country
Parent 173290 Dec 1993