CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 60/615,360, filed Sep. 30, 2004.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the preparation of hydroxy-functionalized amide acetals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Amide acetals have been used for example in copolymerization with polyisocyanates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,767. Cross-linked amide acetal based coating compositions dry and cure rapidly without the potential problems created by VOC emissions. Such coatings can be very useful, for example, in the automotive coatings industry.

Co-owned and co-pending US Patent Publication 2005-007461 describes polymeric compositions containing amide acetal groups, which are crosslinked by hydrolyzing the amide acetal groups, and subsequently reacting the hydroxyl groups and/or the amine functions that are formed to crosslink the composition.

Co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/960,656 describes a catalytic process for making amide acetals from nitrites and diethanolamines.

Hydroxy-functionalized amide acetals find use in cross-linkable coatings. CA 132: 280540, an anonymous disclosure, alluded to the potential preparation of hydroxy amide acetals from epoxides and oxazolines but did not include how to make these, nor provide any experimental results. However, the syntheses of these materials from hydroxy acids, esters or from lactone and beta-dihydroxyamines, has not be disclosed, nor has experimental data been shown elsewhere in support of the composition of these compounds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to hydroxy amide acetals of the formula [Image Omitted]
wherein R₄₂â€”R₄₉independently represent a hydrogen, C₁-C₂₀alkyl, C₁-C₂₀alkenyl, C₁-C₂₀alkynyl, C₁-C₂₀aryl, C₁-C₂₀alkyl ester, or C₁-C₂₀aralkyl group, said alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, or aralkyl may each have one or more substituents selected from the groups consisting of halo, alkoxy, imino, and dialkylamino,

R₄₁is (CR₅₀R₅₁)_nâ€”OH, wherein R₅₀and R₅₁independently represent a hydrogen, C₁-C₂₀alkyl, C₁-C₂₀alkenyl, C₁-C₂₀alkynyl, C₁-C₂₀aryl, C₁-C₂₀alkyl ester, or C₁-C₂₀aralkyl group ; and

n is 1-10.

The present invention further provides a process for forming a hydroxy amide acetal, said process comprising reacting a bis-(beta hydroxyl)amine with a hydroxy-containing moiety to form a hydroxy amide acetal of the formula [Image Omitted]
wherein R₄₂â€”R₄₉independently represent a hydrogen, C₁-C₂₀alkyl, C₁-C₂₀alkenyl, C₁-C₂₀alkynyl, C₁-C₂₀aryl, C₁-C₂₀alkyl ester, or C₁-C₂₀aralkyl group, said alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, or aralkyl may each have one or more substituents selected from the groups consisting of halo, alkoxy, imino, and dialkylamino;

R₄₁is (CR₅₀R₅₁)_nâ€”OH, wherein R₅₀and R₅₁independently represent a hydrogen, C₁-C₂₀alkyl, C₁-C₂₀alkenyl, C₁-C₂₀alkynyl, C₁-C₂₀aryl, C₁-C₂₀alkyl ester, or C₁-C₂₀aralkyl group; and

n is 1-10.

The invention further relates to products made by the process disclosed.

DETAILS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of hydroxy amide acetals. Amide acetals have the general formula [Image Omitted]
General processes for producing amide acetals are disclosed in co-owned and co-pending U.S. Patent Publication 2005-007461 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/960,656. As disclosed in these applications, amide acetals can also be represented by the formula

wherein R₄₂â€”R₄₉independently represent a hydrogen, C₁-C₂₀alkyl, C₁-C₂₀alkenyl, C₁-C₂₀alkynyl, C₁-C₂₀aryl, C₁-C₂₀alkyl ester, or C₁-C₂₀aralkyl group, said alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, or aralkyl may each have one or more substituents selected from the groups consisting of halo, alkoxy, imino, and dialkylamino; and, R₄₁is (CR₅₀R₅₁)_nâ€”OH, wherein R₅₀and R₅₁independently represent a hydrogen, C₁-C₂₀alkyl, C₁-C₂₀alkenyl, C₁-C₂₀alkynyl, C₁-C₂₀aryl, C₁-C₂₀alkyl ester, or C₁-C₂₀aralkyl group ; and where n is 1-10. It is more typical that R₄₂â€”R₄₉each independently represent hydrogen and C₁-C₁₀alkyl groups.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood, by those of ordinary skill in the art, from a reading of the following detailed description. It is to be appreciated those certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described above and below in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention that are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any sub-combination. In addition, references in the singular may also include the plural (for example, â€œaâ€ and â€œanâ€ may refer to one, or one or more) unless the context specifically states otherwise.

It has been discovered that hydroxy functionalized amide acetals are readily synthesized by reacting hydroxy-containing moieties, including but not limited to hydroxy acids, hydroxy esters or lactones, with beta-dihydroxyamines. More specifically, this involves reacting, for example, a bis-(beta hydroxy)amine of the general formula [Image Omitted]

- where R₄₂â€”R₄₉are defined as above, with a hydroxy acid of the formula HOâ€”(CR₅₀R₅₁)_nâ€”C(O)OH, where n is generally 1 to 10;
  or with a hydroxy ester of the formula

HOâ€”(CR₅₀R₅₁)_nâ€”C(O)OR, where n is generally 1 to 10 and R is any C₁to C₁₀alkyl group;
or with a lactone of the formula [Image Omitted]
where n is 2 to 10; to form
with all the R groups as defined above.

Generally, the reactants are added together with or without a common solvent (e.g., and heated to a gentle reflux until the reaction is complete (generally 12-24 hours) and the water formed by the reaction is distilled off and removed. If a solvent is used, it is desirable to use an azeotropic solvent such as xylenes or toluene.

The materials made by the process described find use in a variety of end-uses, including but not limited to components in coatings for automotive and architectural structures.

The use of numerical values in the various ranges specified in this application, unless expressly indicated otherwise, are stated as approximations as though the minimum and maximum values within the stated ranges were both preceded by the word â€œabout.â€ In this manner slight variations above and below the stated ranges can be used to achieve substantially the same results as values within the ranges. Also, the disclosure of these ranges is intended as a continuous range including every value between the minimum and maximum values.

Unless otherwise stated, all chemicals and reagents were used as received from Aldrich Chemical Co., Milwaukee, Wis.

EXAMPLES Example 1

In a 500 mL RB flask equipped with a Dean Starke trap, glycolic acid (76.0 g, 1.00 mol), diisopropanolamine (133 g, 1.00 mol) and xylenes (100 mL) were added. The reaction content was heated to a gently reflux. After Ëœ16 hours 22.73 g of water was collected. The trap was removed and the xylenes removed under vacuum and the reaction content vacuum distilled.

FractionWeightComment112.80Almost all product251.18Almost all product357.70almost all product431.58Contaminated product

Example 2

In a 500 mL RB flask equipped with a Dean Starke trap, E-caprolactone (109.60, 0.96 mol), diisopropanolamine (129.9 g, 0.96 mol) and xylenes (100 mL) were added. The reaction content was heated to a gently reflux. After Ëœ16 hours 3.92 g of water was collected. The trap was removed and the xylenes removed under vacuum and the reaction content vacuum distilled. NMR (proton) of the second fraction (47.22 g) showed it to contain product although contaminated.