SYNTHESIS OF TRIPTANE AND RELATED WORK AT THE AZERBAYDZHAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360613-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 613
• Publication Date: December 1, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/22 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360613-1
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
CLASSIFICATION SECRET StCRET
SUBJECT Scientific -Chemistry, synthesis of triptane
and isoparaffins
HOW
PUBLISHED Periodicals
WHERE
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED 191+6 - 1950
LANGUAGE
TN If DOCVYIMT CONTAIN! IN/OIYATION A11iC71N/ iN[ NATIONAL OV[Nll
01 TNt UNITlO /TAT[I WITNIII TN[ Y[ANINO OI Ii ILO NAft ACT 10
V. f. C.. 11 AND fl, AD AY[ND[D. ITI TRANIY If IIOX OR TN[ 1[YIlATION
01 ITI CO NT[XTt IN ANT YAMX[R l0 AN VNAUTNO RIltD II If OX 11 IRO?
NIf1TID 1T LAM. NIINODUCTIOX OI iNif IDRY 11 IRONI II T[0.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1946 - 1950.
DATE DIST. ~ ?~ 1950
NO. OF PAGES 4
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT
SiiVTnESIS OF TRIFTANE AND RELATED WORK
AT THE AZERBAYDZHAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
In regard to work on the synthesis of triptane carried out in
the USSR and the properties of this high-octane motor fuel compo-
nent, the following information is contained in two communications
published is priroda and a paper in Neftyanoe Khozyaystvo by V. I.
Zsagulyants. Numbers in brackets refer to the appended sources.
The most advantageous method for synthesizing triptane is considered to
be the procedure discovered by the Kharkov professor, A, p. E1'tekov, in 1873
(Zhur. Russ. Fiz.-Khim. Obsh. Vol X, p 86, 1878; Vol XIV, p 355, 1882). He
found that upon heating trimethylethylene with methyl iodide and lead oxida for
7-8 hours at 210-215 degrees centigrade a mixture of hydrocarbons is obtained
which consists to the extent of one third of the total yield of tetramethylethyl-
ene and assymetric methyl tart-3uty1 ethylene
cat = c (ca3) [c(ca3)}7
The latter can be easily hydrogenated to triptane in the presence of nickel.
B. Moldavskiy, T. Nizovkina, and V. Zharov (Zhur. Obshch. Khim. Vol XVI, p 427,
1946) have shown that lead oxide can be replaced with magnesium oxide, and that
the cheaper methyl chloride can be used instead of methyl 'iodide. The reaction
scheme is'as follows:
+ca3cl
1) (~3)2 c = cH - ca3 ---~ (cH3)2 ccl = ca(ca3)2
(-~(CH3)2 C ~ C(Ca3)2
HC1 Ily
cH2 = c(cH3) - ca(ca3)2
?) ~ca3)2 c = c(cH3)2 c~ 1 (cH3)2 ccl - c(cag)3-~
-a-a cH2 = c~ca3) - c(cH3)3
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The yield of the last hydrocarbon, which may be called triptane, comprises
15$ xith reference to the trimethylethylene, For purposes of comparison, it
ought to be mentioned that the last reaction hen been applied in the US.A, ex-
cept that magnesium oxide was replaced by calcium oxide (Netts Miller and W.
Lovell, Ind and Eng Chem, 1948, p 1138). ~1 ]
V. I. Isagulyants, whose exact affiliation is not known, but who has pub-
lished some work in Izv. Armyan? Filiela AN SSR (Neva of the Armenian Affili-
ate of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), gives a general reviex of develo~:..
meats pertaining to the synthesis of triptane ~3 ], He describes the method
of E1'tekov which had been improved by Moldavekiy et al, ae indicated above.
and compares this method with the catalytic demethylation of isooctane accord-
ing to V. Hensel and V. N. Ipat'ev (Ind Eng Chem, Vol XXXIX, p 853, 1947) and
the synthesis of :riptane by the elkylation of isobutane with propylene in the
presence of alkyl halides according to 0?Kelly and Sachanen. He considers Ipat'-
ev's method feasible under certain conditions, in vier of the high value of
triptane, but regesds the yield obtained in Sachanen's synthesis as too lox
(the yield comprises 5-6~ by wEight xith reference to the propylene). However,
Isagulyants points out that the latter method permits production of triptane
xithout the use of a heterogenous catalyst.
A. V. Kozhevnikov regards the statement, that the use of triptane in com-
bination with tetraethyl lead augments the power of the engine by s factory of
four, while one quarter oP the quantity of tripkxne is required as compared
with iso-octane (cf Zal'kind, Priroda, Vol XXXVIII, No 1, p 63, Jan 1949), as
en exaggeration
~l ]
,
According to Isagulyants
Boiling point
Melting point
Higher and effective degree of
compression (NPSS)
In reviexing USSR xork on high-octane components of gasoline
and in related fields of hydrocarbon chemistry, the following infor-
mation compiled from recent publications may be considered to advan-
tage.
The review of scientific research at the,Azerbaydzhan Academy of Sciences
in 1948 (Vestnik Akademii Nauk, No ',, 1949) does not give any information on
the synthesis of triptane which is not covered in 00-W-332/50. 1Note; As far
as can be ,judged from the Russian text in question, the product referred to in
paragraph 4, p 2, 00-W-332/50 is not triptane~ but another product the name sad
composition of which have not been disclosed in the Russian text. In view of .
the fact that the initial research on which the catalytic process in question
is based hen been definitely credited to N. D. Zelinskiy, it may be pertinent
to outline the work done by Zelinskiy in the field of petroleum chemistry]
As stated by S. V. Kaftanov in "Stalin Prize Laureates in Chemistry in the
Decade Since the Founding of the Prize", [4 ], Zelinskiy has worked on the hy-
drogenation and dehydrogenati?n of hydrocarbons, concentrating on cyclization
~3 ~, the properties of triptane are
80.8? c
minus 25? C .
1.3894
0.6901
SFCRr,T a
SkCRE~
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~~,C~ET
and aromatization of open chains. He has also worked on the synthesis of
oxygen-containing compounds (alcohols, A1r7ehydes, i