TITLE

METHOD OF MANUFACTURE OF FLUORINATED OLEFINS

CROSS REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) This application claims the benefit of priority of Russian Patent application 2006139128, filed November 7, 2006.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Field of the Disclosure

This disclosure relates in general to processes for the production of fluorinated internal olefins.

Description of the Related Art

The refrigeration industry has been working for the past few decades to find replacement refrigerants for the ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) being phased out as a result of the Montreal Protocol. The solution for most refrigerant producers has been the commercialization of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. The new HFC refrigerants, HFC- 134a being the most widely used at this time, have zero ozone depletion potential and thus are not affected by the current regulatory phase-out as a result of the Montreal Protocol.

Further, environmental regulations may ultimately cause global phase-out of certain HFC refrigerants. Currently, the automobile industry is facing regulations relating to global warming potential (GWP) for refrigerants used in mobile air-conditioning. Therefore, there is a great current need to identify new refrigerants with reduced GWP for the automobile air-conditioning market. Should the regulations be more broadly applied in the future, an even greater need will be felt for low GWP refrigerants that can be used in all areas of the refrigeration and air- conditioning industry. Currently proposed replacement refrigerants for HFC-134a include

HFC-152a, pure hydrocarbons such as butane or propane, or "natural" refrigerants such as CO ₂ or ammonia. Many of these suggested

replacements are toxic, flammable, and/or have low energy efficiency. Therefore, new alternatives are constantly being sought.

Non-ozone depleting solvents with lower GWP than current HFC solvents are also constantly being sought. Among the current candidate refrigerants and solvents which are non-ozone depleting and which have lower GWP are hydrofluoroolefins. Some of these are lower boiling, lower molecular weight compounds such as the various isomers of tetrafluoropropene and pentafluoropropene. Other potentially useful compounds include higher molecular weight hydrofluoro-olefins, which may include olefins with terminal double bonds, and olefins with internal double bonds.

SUMMARY

A process is provided for the preparation of internal dihydrofluoroolefins of the formula RCH=CHC ₂ F ₅ , comprising reacting a fluorinated olefin of the formula RCH=CHF, wherein R is selected from perfluoroalkyl groups having from one to ten carbon atoms, and the said alkyl group is either an n-alkyl chain, a sec-alkyl chain, or an iso-alkyl chain, in the liquid phase with tetrafluoroethylene, in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst, removing the Lewis acid catalyst and isolating the dihydrofluoroolefin.

Additionally provided is a method for the addition of terminal fluorinated olefins to tetrafluoroethylene.

The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A process is provided for the preparation of internal dihydrofluoroolefins of the formula RCH=CHC ₂ F ₅ , reacting a fluorinated olefin of the formula RCH=CHF, wherein R is selected from perfluoroalkyl groups having from one to ten carbon atoms, and the said alkyl group is either an n-alkyl chain, a sec-alkyl chain, or an iso-alkyl chain, in the liquid phase with tetrafluoroethylene, in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst,

removing the Lewis acid catalyst and isolating the dihydrofluoroolefin. The process may further comprise an aqueous washing step to remove catalyst, and the washing step may comprise washing with a phosphate buffer. The process may be conducted at from about -10 ⁰ C to about 30 ⁰ C.

Many aspects and embodiments have been described above and are merely exemplary and not limiting. After reading this specification, skilled artisans appreciate that other aspects and embodiments are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Other features and benefits of any one or more of the embodiments will be apparent from the following detailed description, and from the claims. The detailed description first addresses Definitions and Clarification of Terms followed by the Description, and finally Examples.

1. Definitions and Clarification of Terms Before addressing details of embodiments described below, some terms are defined or clarified.

As used herein, a Lewis acid catalyst is a compound which is an electrophile and which can accept a pair of electrons to form a coordinate covalent bond and act as a catalyst for the reaction. In one embodiment, the present invention can generally be described as a process for the preparation of dihydrofluoroolefins of the formula R ^f CH=CHR' ^f , wherein R ^f and R ^lf are perfluoroalkyl groups where the alkyl group of R ^f contains from 1 to about 10 carbon atoms, and the alkyl group of R' ^f contains 2 carbons. The alkyl chain of R ^f is either a straight n-alkyl chain, a branched sec-alkyl chain such as CF ₃ CF ₂ C(CF ₃ )F- , or a branched iso-alkyl chain such as CF ₃ CF(CF ₃ )CF ₂ - . Among the compounds which can be prepared using the present method are 2,3- dihydro-1 ,1 ,1 , 4,4,5, 5,5-octafluoropent-2-ene (F12E) (R ^f = CF ₃ ), 1 ,1 ,1 ,2,2,5,5,6,6,6-decafluoro-3-hexene (F22E) (R ^f = C ₂ F ₅ ) and 1 ,1 ,1 ,2,2,3,3,6,6,7,7,7-dodecafluoro-4-heptene (F23E) ( R ^f = n-C ₃ F ₇ ). Unless otherwise indicated, throughout this application the fluoroolefins referred to herein refer to either the Z-, or E- isomers, or a mixture thereof.

In one embodiment, the dihydrofluoroolefins are prepared through reaction of, a fluorinated olefin compound with tetrafluoroethylene in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst.

In one embodiment, the fluorinated olefin compounds are terminal fluorinated olefins of the structure RCH=CHF, and are either available commercially, or can be prepared by known methods in the art. The alkyl chain of R is either a straight n-alkyl chain, a branched sec-alkyl chain such as CF ₃ CF ₂ C(CF ₃ )F-, or a branched iso-alkyl chain such as CF ₃ CF(CF ₃ )CF ₂ - , having from one to ten carbon atoms. By way of example, CF ₃ CH=CHF (HFC-1234ze)(Z- and E- isomers), and

CF ₃ CF ₂ CH=CHF (HFC-1336mce)(Z- and E- isomers) are readily obtained by dehydrofluorination of the corresponding hydrofluorocarbons.

In one embodiment, tetrafluoroethylene is added in essentially an equivalent molar amount to the fluorinated olefin compound. In another embodiment, from about 1.0 to about 1.05 moles of tetrafluoroethylene are added per mole of fluorinated olefin compound. Greater amounts of tetrafluoroethylene can lead to the formation of additional products arising from the addition of multiple equivalents of tetrafluoroethylene to form higher molecular weight fluoroolefins. In another embodiment, the molar ratio of tetrafluoroethylene to fluorinated olefin is less than 1 :1. In yet another embodiment, the molar ratio of tetrafluoroethylene to fluorinated olefin is less than 0.60:1.

In one embodiment, the reaction is conducted in the liquid phase, in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst such as SbF ₅ or AIZ ₃ where Z is one or more of Br, F or Cl, provided that Z cannot be entirely F. In one embodiment of the invention, the Lewis acid can be antimony pentafluoride or AICI _x Fy (mixed aluminum halide) where x plus y equals 3, and where x is from about 0.05 to about 2.95 and y is from about 2.95 to about 0.05. Details of the aluminum chlorofluoride catalyst preparation are described in US Patent 5,162,594, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. Since the catalysts are water sensitive, reagents and equipment should be dried before use.

In one embodiment, the temperature employed in the process of the instant invention typically ranges from about -10 ⁰ C to about 50 ⁰ C. In another embodiment, the temperature range is from about -10 ⁰ C to about 30 ⁰ C. In yet another embodiment, temperature range is from about -5 ⁰ C to about 25 ⁰ C.

Reaction time is not critical and typically ranges from 1 hour to 24 hours. In one embodiment, from 4 to 24 hours is usually sufficient. In some embodiments, when the reaction conditions are heterogeneous, some degree of agitation is often desirable. The pressure employed in the reaction is not critical. In one embodiment, the reaction is normally run at pressure in the range of from about 0 to about 300 psig (101 kPa to 2169 kPa). Autogenous pressures are usually employed; however, the pressure should not be allowed to rise above 300 psig when using tetrafluoroethylene because of safety considerations.

In one embodiment, the product can be isolated by conventional means, for example aqueous washing to remove the Lewis acid catalyst, followed by fractionation. In another embodiment, to further ensure removal of any Lewis acid catalyst, the washing step can be conducted with an aqueous buffer solution, such as an aqueous phosphate buffer. In yet another embodiment, if further purification is required, the product of the process can be further purified via fractional distillation.

In general, the reaction proceeds with retention of stereochemistry about the double bond of the fluroolefin. Thus, as illustrated in example 2, starting with the E- isomer of 1 ,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene produces the E- isomer of the product, F12E.

As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "having" or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive or and not to an

exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present). Also, use of "a" or "an" are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise. Group numbers corresponding to columns within the Periodic Table of the elements use the "New Notation" convention as seen in the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 81 ^st Edition (2000-2001). Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, suitable methods and materials are described below. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety, unless a particular passage is cited. In case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

EXAMPLES The concepts described herein will be further described in the following examples, which do not limit the scope of the invention described in the claims.

Example 1

A 25 ml_ Hastelloy shaker tube was loaded with 2 g of antimony pentafluoride catalyst, closed, cooled in liquid nitrogen, evacuated and loaded with 10 g (0.087 mole) of 1 ,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene and 9 g of (0.090 mole) of tetrafluoroethylene. The reaction vessel was allowed to

warm and kept on a shaker at 20-25 ⁰ C at autogenous pressure for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the pressure tube was unloaded and 18 g of reaction was obtained, which was determined to contain 65% of CF ₃ CH=CHC ₂ F ₅ , and 27% of C ₃ F ₇ CH=CHC ₂ F ₅ according to gas chromatography and ¹⁹ F NMR. The reaction mixture was distilled to provide 10 g of CF ₃ CH=CHC ₂ F ₅ , (b.p. 30-33 ⁰ C) and 2.2 g of C ₃ F ₇ CH=CHC ₂ F ₅ (b.p. 72-73 ⁰ C).

Example 2

Synthesis of 2,3-dihydro-1 ,1 ,1 ,4,4,5,5,5-octafluoropent-2-ene (CF ₃ CH=CHCF ₂ CF ₃₁ F12E) and 3,4-dihydro-1 ,1 ,1 ,2,2,5,5,6,6,7,7,7- dodecafluoropent-3-ene (F23E)

To a 400 ml Hastelloy® shaker tube was added 8.5 gm (39.4 mmol) of SbF ₅ . The tube was cooled to about -34°C and 40 gm (351 mmol) of E- 1 ,3,3,3-tetrafluoroprop-1-ene was condensed in. Then immediately at -34 ⁰ C, 20 gm (200 mmol) of tetrafluoroethylene was condensed in and the temperature increased to -3°C and the pressure increased to 109 psi. Within 30 minutes, the pressure dropped to 30 psi indicating a substantial reaction of the tetrafluoroethylene. After 24 more minutes, an additional 16 gm (160 mmol) of tetrafluoroethylene was added and the pressure increased to 132 psi, and after an additional 24 minutes, the pressure dropped to 6 psi. The mixture was shaken for an additional 17 hours and 22 minutes at or around room temperature. The product was transferred via vacuum to a stainless steel cylinder and neutralized with phosphate buffer (1M, pH=7) twice and then with water. Analysis by gas chromatography of the liquid layer showed 98.2% F12E and 0.85% F23E.

Example 3

Still in a 400 ml Hastelloy® shaker tube, the above reaction was scaled up using 20 gm (92.6 mmol) of SbF ₅ , 100 gm (877 mmol) of E- 1 ,3,3,3-tetrafluoroprop-1-ene and 90 gm (900 mmol) of tetrafluoroethylene in 30 gm increments. The product was treated as above and the liquid layer contained 80.3% F12E, 4.1% F23E and a variety of other compounds. This scaled up reaction was repeated again to in total yield

258 grams of crude material for distillation on a spinning band column using a high reflux ratio to yield 181 gm of E-F12E in high purity (bp = 29.4 - 29.5 ⁰ C, 99.92% by gas chromatography area %, ¹⁹ F: -66.5 (CF ₃ CH, m, 3F) ₁ -85.3 (CF ₃ , m 3F), -118.1 (CF ₂ , m, 2F); ¹ H: 6.49 (m, 2H). Example 4

A 25 ml_ Hastelloy shaker tube is loaded with 1.6 g of antimony pentafluoride catalyst, closed, cooled in liquid nitrogen, evacuated and loaded with 11.5 g (0.070 mole) of 1 ,3,3,4,4,4-hexafluoro-1-butene and 7.2 g of (0.072 mole) of tetrafluoroethylene. The reaction vessel is allowed to warm and kept on a shaker at 20-25 ⁰ C at autogenous pressure for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the pressure tube is unloaded and 17.5 g of reaction was obtained, which is determined to contain 88% of CF ₃ CF ₂ CH=CHCF ₂ CF ₃ , and 6% of CF ₃ CF ₂ CF ₂ CF ₂ CH=CHCF ₂ CF ₃ according to gas chromatography and ¹⁹ F NMR. The reaction mixture is distilled to provide 11 g of CF ₃ CF ₂ CH=CHCF ₂ CF ₃ , (b.p.~51 ⁰ C) and 0.8 g of CF ₃ CF ₂ CF ₂ CF ₂ CH=CHCF ₂ CF ₃ (b.p. -95 ⁰ C).

Example 5

Seven grams of AICI _x F _y , as described in US 5157171 , was loaded in a glove bag into a 400ml Hastelloy autoclave purged with nitrogen. The reactor was cooled in dry-ice and evacuated. A mixture of 1234ze and 245fa (130 gm, 70:30) was added to the reactor. TFE (30 gm, 0.3 mmol) was added at -3O ⁰ C, and then in 10 min another addition of TFE (30 gm, 0.3 mmol) was made at -17.5 ⁰ C. The increase in temperature was due to the exothermic nature of the reaction. After four minutes, the last portion of TFE (25gm, 0.25 mmol) was added at -3 ⁰ C, and then the reaction proceeded for 8 hr. The crude product was distilled to give 96gm (.45 moles, 53%) of 2,3-dihydrooctafluoropentene-2.

Note that not all of the activities described above in the general description or the examples are required, that a portion of a specific activity may not be required, and that one or more further activities may be performed in addition to those described. Still further, the order in which

activities are listed are not necessarily the order in which they are performed.

In the foregoing specification, the concepts have been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of invention. Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any feature(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature of any or all the claims.

It is to be appreciated that certain features are, for clarity, described herein in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any subcombination. Further, reference to values stated in ranges include each and every value within that range.