Kinetic study of carbonylation of n-butylamine using homogeneous water soluble Ru^II-EDTA-CO catalyst

Abstract

The kinetics of carbonylation of n-butylamine catalyzed by [Ru^II-(EDTA-H)CO]⁻ in aqueous solution to give n-butylformamide (70%) and N,N'-dibutylurea (30%) is reported. The optimum conditions of the reaction are 140°C and 30 atm of CO. The effect of ruthenium catalyst, CO pressure and n-butylamine concentrations on the initial rates of carbonylation were investigated. It was found that the rate of carbonylation has a first order dependence with respect to catalyst, CO pressure and substrate concentrations, respectively. A polar solvent such as water, used in our study, was found to enhance the rate of carbonylation of the primary amine in comparison with nonaqueous solvent systems. The effect of temperature on the rate of n-butylamine carbonylation was also investigated and the activation energy evaluated is 21.6kcal mol⁻¹.