Preparing an improved liquid hydrocarbon solutions of complexes alcohil lithium method.

摘要

Hydrocarbon, especially aliphatic and/or cyloaliphatic hydrocarbon, solvent solutions of complexes selected from the group of (a) n-butyllithium, (b) sec-butyllithium and (c) isopropyllithium, with ethyllithium, in which the ratio, on a mole basis, of the n-butyllithium to the ethyllithium is from about 1:9 to about 9:1; of the sec-butyllithium to the ethyllithium is from about 17:83 to about 95:5; of the isopropyllithium to the ethyllithium is from about 1:9 to about 9:1. The thermal stability of various of the complexes in said solutions thereof has been found to be outstanding. The hydrocarbon solvent solutions of said complexes, especially where said solvents are aliphatic or cycloaliphatic, have marked advantages over conventionally used hydrocarbon solvent solutions of said complexes as catalysts or initiators in plymerization reactions, telomerization reactions, metalation reactions, halogen-metal interchange reactions, and in the preparation of magnesium alkyls. Marked savings in cost are also achieved in the preparation of the complexes by reason of the materially lower cost of the ethyl halides in relation to the costs of the other alkyl halides used in the practice of the present invention.