GB568102A - Manufacture of surface active compositions - Google Patents

Abstract

Surface active compositions comprising aliphatic and/or cycloaliphatic sulphonates, prepared by hydrolysing and neutralizing with aqueous caustic alkali, the sulphonyl halides obtained by the action of sulphur dioxide and a halogen or a sulphuryl halide on normally liquid or solid aliphatic and/or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbons, are purified by extraction of their resulting aqueous solution with a hydrocarbon or a relatively inert derivative thereof, which is normally solid and which melts at a temperature below the boiling point of the said aqueous solution, in the liquid state, thereby removing the unsulphonated material. The normally solid hydrocarbon is preferably paraffin wax or naphthalene. There may also be used match wax, scale wax, hard and soft paraffin wax, higher melting paraffin waxes, micro-crystalline paraffin waxes, petrolatum waxes, or mixtures thereof. Other compounds specified are aromatic hydrocarbons, e.g. commercial methyl anthracene, octadecylbenzene, tetramethyl benzene, acenaphthene, &c., substituted aromatic hydrocarbons such as p-dichlorobenzene, tetrachlorobenzene, 2-chloronaphthalene, commercial dichloronaphthalene, &c., alkanes, e.g. eicosane, heneicosane, tricosane, hentriacontane, pentatriacontane and hexacontane, and their halogen derivatives; the normally solid high molecular weight monohydric alcohols, e.g. dodecyl, tetradecyl, hexadecyl, and octadecyl and their fatty esters, e.g. the acetates, propionates, butyrates, stearates, palmitates or mixtures thereof. The extraction of the unsulphonated oil may be made at any convenient temperature from the melting point of the hydrocarbon or to the boiling point of the solution. Such water-miscible agents as methyl, ethyl, propyl, and isopropyl alcohols and acetone may be added to the solution to lower the amount of paraffin wax emulsified in the solution. The separated hydrocarbon is removed from the purified solution at a temperature in general, slightly above that at which the aliphatic sulphonates would tend to separate with the hydrocarbon. The purified aqueous solutions may be concentrated by salting out the sulphonate with a strong electrolyte solution. Various agents may be added in the standardizing of the concentrated solution, including monohydric water-miscible alcohols from methanol to butanol, polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene and propylene glycols, glycerol, sorbitol and sugars, and other compounds such as urea, ethanolamines, casein, the higher alkyl sodium sulphates, water-immiscible alcohols such as octyl, decyl, hexyl and dodecyl alcohol, terpineol, pine oil, terpenes and terpene alcohols, ammonium sulphamate, and polyvinyl alcohols. In examples (1) hexadecane is reacted with sulphur dioxide and chlorine to give the corresponding sulphonyl chloride and some hexadecane and chloro derivatives of both, neutralized with aqueous sodium hydroxide, and the resulting sulphonate solution treated with molten paraffin wax; naphthalene may also be used; (2) a Pennsylvania base mineral oil is sulphonated and the solution purified likewise; (3) menthane is sulphonated as in (1) above, and the product comprising menthane sulphonyl chlorides, chlor menthane sulphonyl chlorides and chlor menthanes similarly hydrolysed and purified. Specifications 537,841, 549,512 and 553,467 are referred to.