Organic hydrogen getters Part 1

A solid unsaturated organic-catalyst combination has been developed which can irreversibly getter hydrogen from closed systems via chemical reaction. The unsaturated organic is 1,6-diphenoxy-2, 4-hexadiyne or dimerized phenyl propargyl ether (DPPE), and the catalyst is 5% Pd-CaCO3. The structure of DPPE (m.p. 80 ~ C) was verified by infra-red and Raman spectroscopy and by elemental analyses. The compounded getter has been shown to be non-explosive and even when completely hydrogen saturated, nonpyrophoric. Kinetic studies show that the getter reacts with sufficient speed to prevent hydrogen build-up in closed systems containing reactive metals and water. The activation energy for hydrogen uptake was determined to be 9.4 kcal mo1-1 over the temperature range 22 to 55 ~ C.