Salts of 3-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-propane-sulfonic acid-1
Velker et al.  
 1 1 SALTS 0F 3-HYDROXY-Z-I-IYDROXYMETHYL-PRO- PANE-SULFONIC ACID-l [75] Inventors: Eugen Velker,  
 Dormagen-Hackenbroich; Francis Bentz; Helmut Reiff, Cologne, all of Germany [73] Assignee: Bayer Aktiengesellschaft,  
 Leverkusen, Germany [22] Filed: May 18, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 361,525  
 [30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 18. 1972 Germany 2224304 [52] US. Cl... 260/513 R; 260/513 B; 260/29.2 TN;  
 260/75 NP; 260/77.5 AM  
 [51] Int. Cl. C07c 143/02 [58] Field of Search 260/513 B, 513 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.006.309 6/1935 Clark 260/106 1 Apr. 22, 1975 2.653.970 9/1953 Fessler 260/513 B 2.793.229 5/1957 Blaser et al. 2.806.876 9/1957 Blaser et al. 3.649.350 3/1972 Agens 117/160 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 701.809 1/1965 Canada 260/513 B Primary Examiner-Leon Zitver Assistant Examiner-Nicky Chan Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Plumley &amp; Tyner 3 Claims, No Drawings SALTS OF 3-HYDROXY-2-HYDROXYMETHYL-PROPANE- SULFONIC ACID-1 This invention relates to salts of 3-hydroxy-2- hydroxymethyl-propane-sulfonic acid-1 and to a process for their preparation. The salts of 3-hydroxy-2- hydroxymethyl-propane-sulfonic acid-l are obtained by the addition reaction of bisulfites to 2-methylenepropane-1,3-diol.  
  It is known that alkali metal bisulfites can be attached to double bonds which are activated by electron acceptor groups such as nitrile or ester groups (see R.T.E. Schenck and J. Danishefsky, J. Org. Chem. 16, 1683 (1951); O. Bayer, Ang. Chem. 61, 233 (1949) It is also known that bisulfites can be attached to aliphatic double bonds which are only weakly activated. It has been described in the literature, for example, that bisulfites can be attached to allyl alcohol (see M. S. Kharasch, E. M. May and F. R. Mayo, J. Org. Chem. 3, 175 (1939) 3-oxy-propane-sulfonic acid was obtained by this reaction in the form of its salts in a yield of only 30%. The yield obtained from the reaction of allyl alcohol and bisulfites has been increased (German Patent No. 915,693) but here again the formation of byproducts could not by completely suppressed, and it is therefore assumed that the compounds obtained have the following structure:  
 Ko s-cii en so -so era CHQOH CH2 I CHZOH Moreover, the inorganic salts formed in the reaction are not completely removed from the sulfonate.  
  It is an object of this invention to provide new compounds which are useful as co-condensable compounds, as monomers for polyurethanes and as valuable intermediate products for other organic syntheses, for example for the production of easily dyeable polyester fibers.  
  Further objects will be evident from the following description and the example.  
  These objects are accomplished by a methyl-propane-sulfonic acid salts of the formula CH OH (3H CH SO X CH OH in which X represents NH or an alkali metal.  
  It is another object of this invention to provide a process for the production of the abovementioned methyl-propane-sulfonic acid salts.  
  This object is accomplished by a process for the preparation of salts of 3-hyclroxy-Z-hydroxymethyl-propane-sulfonic acid-1, which comprises reacting Z-methlene-propane-1,3-diol with a bisulfite of the formula X-HSOs in which X represents NH4 or an alkali metal said reaction being effected in an aqueous medium at temperatures of up to 100C and within a pl-l-range of 3 9 in the presence of catalytically active oxygen, using a molar ratio of bisulfite to diol of between 1 l and 5 Said salts are obtained by this method in&#39;a simple manner and with a high degree of purity. Since in contrast, for example, to allyl alcohol, Z-methylenepropane-1,3-diol does not form any homopolymers and copolymerisation, e.g. with acrylonitrile, is also very difficult to carry out and only occurs with small proportions of 2-methylene-propane-l,3-diol, the double bond in 2-methylene-propane-l,3-diol must be regarded as much less reactive than the double bond in allyl alcohol.  
  It was therefore all the more surprising that, in spite of the lower reactivity of the double bond, the addition of bisulfites to 2-methylene-propane-l,3-diol to form 3-hydroxy-Z-hydroxymethyl-propane-sulfonic acid salts proceeded with such high yields and without any side reactions being observed as in the case of the abovementioned disulfone compounds. The reaction may be represented by the following reaction scheme:  
  /OH OH XHSO CH C CH OH CH OZI XO S-CH CH CH OH X NH or alkali metal.  
  The diol used as the starting material may be prepared in known manner from isobutylene, glacial acetic acid and oxygen followed by saponification of the diacetal formed. The bisulfites used may be commercial bisulfite liquors or alternatively the bisulfites may be freshly prepared by introducing sulfur dioxide into aqueous ammonium hydroxide or alkali metal hydroxide solution. The addition reaction may be carried out at a temperature of up to 100C, preferably at a temperature between -l0C and C, most preferably at room temperature, by introducing Z-methylenepropane-1,3-diol or its aqueous solution dropwise into the bisulfite liquor. The molar ratio of bisulfite to diol used is between 1 l and 5 1, preferably between 1.1 l and 2 l. The oxygen used as catalyst for the reaction may be pure oxygen, atmospheric oxygen or taken from compounds which evolve oxygen such as hydrogen peroxide, care being taken to ensure that the oxygen is very finely divided in the reaction mixture, which can easily be achieved by using suitable stirrers. To obtain a high sulfonate yield, it is important to adjust the reaction solution to the correct pH, which should be between 3 and 9 and is preferably between 5 and 8. The reaction solution can be adjusted to the required pH by, for example, adding the appropriate quantity of ammonia or alkali metal hydroxide solution to the bi sulfite solution. During the addition of the diol to the reaction solution, the pH changes towards alkaline, unless it is maintained at the required level by adding dilute acid or introducing more sulfur dioxide at the same time. After the addition of the diol, the end of the reaction is indicated by the fact that the pH remains the same. The heat evolved in the reaction may be removed by cooling if necessary. The major portion of the inorganic salts is advantageously removed by concentrating the solution to about half its volume and filtering the precipitated crystals. The remaining inorganic salts may then be removed from the required reaction product by extraction with alcohol/water mixtures. The sulfonate is obtained analytically pure in yields of up to 90% when the residue obtained after concentration of the alcoholic/aqueous solution by evaporation is recrystallised from alcohol. The salts of 3-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-propane-sulfonic acid-1 obtained according to the invention are suitable e.g. for use as co-condensable compounds, as monomers for polyurethanes and as valuable intermediate products for other organic syntheses, for example, for the production of easily dyeable polyester fibers.  
  The preparation of a copolyester for fibers which can be dyed with basic dyes will now be described.  
  194.0 parts by weight of dimethyl terephalate, 186.0 parts by weight of ethylene glycol and 7.7 parts by weight of sodium-2-sulfonatomethyl-propane-1,3-diol mixed with 0.5 parts by weight of zinc acetate and 0.6 parts by weight of antimony trioxide are introduced into a reaction vessel equipped with an anchor stirrer, a gas inlet tube, a distillation attachment, a condenser, a vacuum attachment and a receiver. The reaction mixture is heated to 165C under a stream of nitrogen and ester interchange is continued for 2 hours. The temperature is then raised to 280C over a period of 2 hours. After terminating the nitrogen supply, the pressure is then slowly reduced to 0.03 mm Hg in the course of 1 hour. The rate of stirring must then be reduced from about 150 to about 20 revs per minute due to the continuous increase in the visconsity of the melt. Polycondensation is terminated after a further 3.5 hours. The polyester has a softening point of 2520 264C and a relative solution viscosity of 11, 1.98. The colourless, homogeneous, highly viscous melt is spun to threads by the melt spinning process. The stretched threads are dyed dark blue with a basic blue dye. The colour is wash-fast.  
  The following example is to further illustrate the invention without limiting it.  
 EXAMPLE 1 390 parts by weight of a commercial 40% sodium bisulfite liquor are adjusted to a pH of 7.05 with concentrated sodium hydroxide solution. Air is injected and the reaction solution is stirred so vigorously that it becomes milky cloudy due to the finely divided air bubbles. 88 parts by weight of 2-methylene-propane-l,3- diol in 38 ml of water are introduced dropwise over a period of A 1 hour at room temperature and, at the same time, the pH is kept between 7.0 and 7.1 by the dropwise addition of dilute sulfuric acid. The reaction is left to continue until no further change in pH can be observed. The reaction mixture is then acidified to approximately pH 3 with dilute sulfuric acid and the excess sulfur dioxide is driven out by stirring. After neutralisation with sodium hydroxide, the reaction mixture is evaporated to about half its volume and after leaving it to stand in a refrigerator for several hours, it is filtered to remove precipitated Glaubers salt. The filtrate is evaporated to dryness and the residue is boiled with 90% methanol. It is then filtered, the filtrate is evaporated and the residue then left behind is recrystallised from alcohol.  
 What we claim is: l. A compound of the formula CH --OH in which X represents NH or an alkali metal.  
 2. The compound of claim 1 in which X is sodium. 3. The compound of claim 1 in which X is NH