GB765903A - Partial epoxidation of naturally occurring oils - Google Patents

Abstract

Halogen-containing resins and specifically vinyl-type resins are plasticized with partially epoxidized triglycerides obtained by heating naturally occurring unsaturated oils under epoxidizing conditions with only sufficient epoxidizing agent to epoxidize the mono-unsaturated fatty acid radicals and one double bond only of each poly-unsaturated fatty acid radical in the oil (see Group IV (b)).ALSO:Unsaturated fatty acid esters contained in naturally occurring oils are partially epoxidized by heating said oils under epoxidizing conditions with an epoxidizing reagent, the amount of which corresponds to 1 to 1.3 mol. of epoxidizing reagent for each double bond in each mol. of mono-unsaturated ester plus 1 to 1.3 mol. of epoxidizing reagent for one double bond only of each mol. of poly-unsaturated ester. The epoxidizing agent may be an aliphatic peracid containing from 1 to 10 carbon atoms, e.g. peracetic, performic or perbutyric acid, or may be hydrogen peroxide and an aliphatic carboxylic acid containing from 1 to 10 carbon atoms in the presence of 0.5 to 5 per cent by weight of sulphuric acid, and the reaction may be carried out with or without a solvent such as hexane or benzene. When a peracid is used, the reaction temperature may vary from 15 DEG to 35 DEG C. with reaction times of 1 to 4 hours, and a buffer such as sodium acetate is added to neutralize any mineral acid. The amount of epoxidizing reagent varies with the composition of the oil, the amount of double bonds to be reacted in order to obtain the required partially epoxidized ester being, for example, linseed oil 43.3 per cent, corn oil 68 per cent, menhaden oil 33.2 per cent, safflower oil 55 per cent, and soyabean oil 57.7 per cent. On completion of the reaction, the product is washed with water, filtered through anhydrous sodium carbonate if necessary, dried with magnesium sulphate and filtered. Detailed examples are given for the partial epoxidation of safflower oil, corn oil, linseed oil, menhaden oil, and soya bean oil, using as epoxidizing agent peracetic acid, or hydrogen peroxide and glacial acetic acid with sulphuric acid, or perbutyric acid or hydrogen peroxide and formic acid, with or without benzene as a solvent. The products may be used as plasticizers in halogen-containing resins and specifically vinyl-type resins.