2-Hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium formate is one of several catalysts in the 2-hydroxyalkyl trialkyl ammonium quat series used for the trimerization of isocyanates to isocyanurates then formation of polyisocyanurates used as thermoset resins.
Strangely enough, some of these quats go by the tradename “Dabco TMR-x” wherein “x” is a number. This is strange since the compound commonly referred to by organic chemists as DABCO is a trialkylamine (not a quat salt) and is also a trimerization catalyst. 2-Hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium formate and other Dabco TMR quat salts were mentioned this month as catalysts in US Patent 10,030,094.
For general knowledge, polyisocyanurates are made from isocyanates and polyols and are different from polyurethanes in two ways: [1] the ratio of MDI (methylene diisocyanate) to polyol is higher in polyisocyanurates than in polyurethanes and [2] the polyol in a polyisocyanurate is a polyester-polyol whereas polyurethanes use polyether polyols (like polyethylene glycol).
About Marc Halpern
Dr. Halpern is founder and president of PTC Organics, Inc., the only company dedicated exclusively to developing low-cost high-performance green chemistry processes for the manufacture of organic chemicals using Phase Transfer Catalysis. Dr. Halpern has innovated PTC breakthroughs for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, petrochemicals, monomers, polymers, flavors & fragrances, dyes & pigments and solvents. Dr. Halpern has provided PTC services on-site at more than 260 industrial process R&D departments in 37 countries and has helped chemical companies save > $200 million. Dr. Halpern co-authored five books including the best-selling “Phase-Transfer Catalysis: Fundamentals, Applications and Industrial Perspectives” and has presented the 2-day course “Practical Phase-Transfer Catalysis” at 50 locations in the US, Europe and Asia.
Dr. Halpern founded the journal “Industrial Phase-Transfer Catalysis” and “The PTC Tip of the Month” enjoyed by 2,100 qualified subscribers, now beyond 130 issues. In 2014, Dr. Halpern is celebrating his 30th year in the chemical industry, including serving as a process chemist at Dow Chemical, a supervisor of process chemistry at ICI, Director of R&D at Sybron Chemicals and founder and president of PTC Organics Inc. (15 years) and PTC Communications Inc. (20 years). Dr. Halpern also co-founded PTC Interface Inc. in 1989 and PTC Value Recovery Inc. in 1999. His academic breakthroughs include the PTC pKa Guidelines, the q-value for quat accessibility and he has achieved industrial PTC breakthroughs for a dozen strong base reactions as well as esterifications, transesterifications, epoxidations and chloromethylations plus contributed to more than 100 other industrial PTC process development projects.
Dr. Halpern has dedicated his adult life to his family and to phase-transfer catalysis (in that order!).
