Reaction of Ethylene Oxide with Active Hydrogen. I.

Authors investigated the reaction of ethylene oxide with aqueous ammonia at high concentration of commercial practice. Kinetically, it is a consecutive and competitive reaction including the follo-wing reactions.NH3+C2H4O_??_NH2C2H4OH (1) NH2C2H4OH+C2H4O_??_NH(C2H4OH)2 (2) NH(C2H4OH)2+C2H4O_??_N(C2H4OH)3 (3) where k1 = (41+4.0 [H2O]2)×102×exp (-11, 000/RT) k2 = (7.2-0.042 [H2O])×k1 k3 = (16-0.22[H2O])×k1 in mol-1l min-1.The reaction rate was maximum when the concentration of ammonia is about 4Owt% The reactions of ethylene oxide with monoethanolamine and diethanolamine are both accelerated by water, but proceed to an appreciable extent in the absence of water and the rates are proportional to the square root of water concentration. In commercial practice, high temperature and high concentration of aq, ammonia are necessary in parallel, and successive addition of ethylene oxide is recommendable.