' United States Patent [19] [11] Patent Number: 4,482,738

Rothgery [45] Date of Patent: Nov. 13, 1984

[54] PROCESS FOR PREPARING ‘ Primary Examiner—Thomas A. Waltz
SEMICARBAZIDE HYDROCHLORIDE Attorney, Agent, or Firm—William A. Simons; Thomas
[75] Inventor: Eugene F. Rothgery, North Branford, P. O’Day
Conn. [57] ABSTRACT .
[73] Assignee: Olin Corporation, Cheshire, Conn. A process for preparing semicarbazide hydrochloride
[21] Appl. No.: 519,471 comprising the steps:
(a) reacting an aqueous hydrazine solution with urea
[22] Filed: Aug. 1, 1983 at a temperature from about 80° C. to about 130° C.
[51] Int. c1.3 .......................................... .. C07C 133/02 and at a mole ratio of hydrazine to urea from about
[52] US. Cl. ...... . . . . . . . . . . .. 564/37; 564/18; 0.9:1 to about 1.2:1 to form a reaction mixture com
564/34; 564/35 prising semicarbazide, water and alcohol-insoluble
[58] Field of Search ...................... .. 564/18, 34, 35, 37 by-products;
[56] References Cited (b) removing substantially all of the water from the
reaction mixture;
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS (0) mixing a suf?cient amount of an alcohol with the
Re. 24,526 8/1958 Sampson, Jr. ..................... .. 260/554 water-deleted reaction mixture to dissolve the
564/35 semicarbazide and to precipitate said alcohol
2,749,217
2,692,281 10/1954
6/1956 Deutschman,
Newby et al. Jr. 23/190 insoluble by-products from the resulting alcohol
3,227,753 1/1966 Mehr et a1. ......................... .. 564/35
solution;
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS (d) removing said precipitated alcohol-insoluble by
848167 9/1960 United Kingdom ................ .. 564/37
products from said alcohol solution;
(6) adding a suf?cient amount of anhydrous hydrogen
OTHER PUBLICATIONS chloride to said alcohol solution to form and pre
Charles Clark, Hydrazine, Mathieson Chemical Corpo cipitate semicarbazide hydrochloride; and
ration, pp. 59-63, (1953). . (f) recovering said semicarbazide hydrochloride from
Mistry et al., J. Ind. Chem. Soc., vol. 7, p. 793, (1930). said alcohol solution.
Das-Gupta, J. Ind. Chem. Soc., vol. 10, p. 111, (1933).
Wheeler, JACS, 51, 3654, (1929). 8 Claims, No Drawings
 4,482,738
1 2
(t) recovering the semicarbazide hydrochloride from
PROCESS FOR PREPARING SEMICARBAZIDE the alcohol solution.
HYDROCHLORIDE DETAILED DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The formation- of semicarbazide hydrochloride from
1. Field of the Invention urea, hydrazine and HCl is illustrated by the following
The present invention relates to a process for prepar equations (A) and (B):
ing semicarbazide hydrochloride.
2. Description of the Prior Art 10
semicarbazide hydrochloride is an important hydra
zine-based chemical intermediate used in the production
of pharmaceuticals, photographic chemicals and other
products. This compound has been preparedby a vari
ety of synthesis routes. One preparation method in
volves reacting carbon monoxide with hydrazine at
superatmospheric pressures and at temperatures in the The reactants for this process are widely available
range from 0° C. to 200° C. and in the presence of a chemicals. Urea is a widely available commodity chemi
catalytic amount of a metal carbonyl to obtain semicar cal. Hydrazine is also commonly available in the form of
bazide which was acidi?ed to yield the desired salt. See 20 hydrazine hydrate (an aqueous solution‘ containing 1
US. Pat. Reissue No. 24,526, which reissued to H. J. mole hydrazine and 1 mole H2O or 64% by weight
Sampson, Jr. on Aug. 26, 1958. hydrazine). It is also available in other aqueous solutions
Another method involves reacting nitrourea with (e.g. solutions containing from about 95% to about 5%
hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst, by weight hydrazine). Hydrazine hydrate is the pre
hydrochloric acid and an inert solubilizing agent to 25 ferred source of hydrazine for this process.
produce semicarbazide hydrochloride. See U.S. Pat. It is critical to the present process to employ anhy
No. 2,749,217, which issued to A. J. Deutschman, Jr. on drous HCl. It has been found that employment of anhy
June 5, 1956. drous HCl instead of the more commonly available
A preferred commercial route involves the reaction aqueous solutions of HCl signi?cantly increases the
of hydrazine hydrate (64% by weight hydrazine) with 30 product yield. The term “anhydrous HCl” as employed
urea. At the end of the reaction, the water and unre herein includes HCl solutions which contain less than
acted hydrazine from the hydrazine solution is stripped. about 2% by weight H2O.
The reaction mixture is then digested in methanol fol The mole ratio of hydrazine to urea, as stated above,
lowed by ?ltering off methanol-insoluble by-products should be from about 0.9:1 to about 1.2:1. The employ
(e.g. hydrazodicarbonamide). The remaining ?ltrateis 35 ment of this range of mole ratios is important because
acidi?ed with aqueous hydrochloric acid to precipitate low yields of product would be obtained if a sigini?cant
semicarbazide hydrochloride which is then recovered. excess of hydrazine was employed and the formation of
This latter route, while being advantageous in being the by-product, hydrazodicarbonamide, is favored with
able to use atmospheric pressure reactions and inexpen signi?cant excess of urea. It is more preferred to employ
sive reactants, does have the disadvantage of having 40 a hydrazine to urea mole ratio from about 0.95:1 to
relatively low yields (i.e. about 75% to 80% based on about 1.1:1.
' the urea used). Accordingly, there is a need in the art to The reaction temperature should be from about 80°
be able to improve the yields of thisprocess without C. to about 130° C. in order to achieve the reasonable
substantially increasing its costs. The present invention reaction rate. The reaction rate appears to slow down
is believed to be a solution to that need. signi?cantly below about 80° C. Above about 130° C.,
degradation reactions are initiated which lower the
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION product yield and complicates its recovery. Preferably
The present invention, therefore, is directed to a the reaction should be carried out to about 100° C. to
process for making semicarbazide hydrochloride com about 120° C. The reaction time is dependent upon the
prising the steps of: 50 reaction temperature and with higher temperatures a
(a) reacting an aqueous hydrazine solution with urea shorter time would be needed. The present invention
at a temperature from about 80° C. to about 130° C. does not require the use of either sub- or superatmos
and at a mole ratio of hydrazine to urea from about pheric pressures during the reaction. It is preferred to
0.9:1 to about 1.2:1 to form a reaction mixture com use atmospheric pressure reactors of conventional con
prising semicarbazide,-water and alcohol-insoluble 55 struction. It should be noted that ammonia is evolved as
by-products; ' a by-product during the reaction and minute amounts of
(b) removing substantially all (i.e. at least about 95% ammonia may be still present at the end of the reaction.
by weight) of the water from the reaction mixture; However, these may usually be removed with the wa
(0) mixing a suf?cient amount of an alcohol with the ter.
water-deleted reaction mixture to dissolve the After the reaction is complete, it is ‘necessary to re
semicarbazide and to precipitate the alcohol move substantially all of the water in the reaction mix
insoluble by-products from the resulting alcohol ture which originated with the aqueous hydrazine solu
solution; tion. This water removal step can be carried out by any
(d) removing the precipitated alcohol-insoluble by conventional means. Vacuum distillation is the pre
products from the alcohol solution; 65 ferred technique for removing water. Excess hydrazine
(e) adding a suf?cient amount of anhydrous hydrogen and ammonia will also be removed by this step. In a
chloride to the alcohol solution to form and precip preferred embodiment, at least about 98% by weight of
itate semicarbazide hydrochloride; and the H20 is removed by this step.
 4,482,738
3 4
Upon completion of the water removal step the wa theory based on urea charged and assaying 97.8% pure
ter-deleted residue (i.e. containing semicarbazide and by NaOH titration. '
alcohol-insoluble by'-products such as hydrazodicar Comparing the product yield of Example I to Com
bonamide) is mixed with an alcohol to preferentially parison I, one can readily see that the process of the
dissolve substantially all of the semicarbazide and pre 5 present invention produces a signi?cantly higher yield.
cipitate substantially all of the alcohol-insoluble by-pro What is claimed is:
ducts. Any of the lower alcohols'having l-4 carbon 1. A process for making semicarbazide hydrochloride
atoms such as methanol ethanol, isopropanol and the comprising the steps of:
like are preferred. It is more preferred to use methanol (a) reacting an aqueous hydrazine solution with urea
because of the higher solubility of semicarbazide in it. It at a temperature from about 80° C. to about 130° C.
may also be preferable to heat this mixture (e.g. to about and at a mole ratio of hydrazine to urea from about
55° C. to about 65° C.) in order to achieve greater solu 0.9:1 to about 1.221 to form a reaction mixture com
bility of the semicarbazide. Also the mixture may be prising semicarbazide, water and alcohol-insoluble
agitated for the same purpose. The preferred amount of by-products;
alcohol added is at least equal by weight to the amount (b) removing substantially all of the water from the
of the water-deleted reaction mixture. 15
When the alcohol-insolubles are completely settled or reaction mixture;
(0) mixing a suf?cient amount of an alcohol with the
precipitated from the solution, they may be removed by water-deleted reaction mixture to dissolve said
any conventional means. Filtration is preferred al
though other conventional techniques, such as centrifu semicarbazide and to precipitate said alcohol
gation and the like, may be used‘ instead. 20 insoluble by-products from the resulting alcohol
After separation of the insolubles, the clari?ed alco solution;v
holic mixture is acidi?ed with anhydrous HCl to form (d) removing said precipitated alcohol-insoluble by
the desired semicarbazide hydrochloride product. The products from said alcohol solution;
preferred amount of HCl added should be approxi (e) adding a suf?cient amount of anhydrous hydrogen
mately a 1:1 mole ratio with the semicarbazide.Prefera 25 chloride to said alcohol solution to form and pre
bly, the anhydrous acid is added slowly into the alco cipitate semicarbazide hydrochloride; and
holic mixture. This addition of the HCl forms a precipi (f) recovering said semicarbazide hydrochloride from
tate which is the desired product. said alcohol solution.
The precipitated semicarbazide hydrochloride may 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said aqueous hy
be recovered from the alcoholic mixture by any con drazine solution is hydrazine hydrate.
ventional means. Again ?ltration is the preferred tech 3. The process of claim 1 wherein the reaction tem
nique although other conventional techniques may be perature for step (a) is from about 105° C. to about 120°
used. After removal of the alcoholic mixture from the C.
product, the product may be washed in methanol and 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the mole ratio of
dried for use in other processes. hydrazine to urea is from about 0.95:1 to about 1.1:1.
The following example and comparison further illus 35 5. The process of claim 1 wherein said alcohol is a
trate the present invention. All parts and percentages lower alcohol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
are by weight unless explicity stated otherwise. 6. The process of claim 5 wherein said lower alcohol
is methanol.
EXAMPLE I 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the amount of
Use of Anhydrous Acid Conditions hydrogen chloride added in step (e) is approximately an
Urea (60.1 g, 1 mole) and 64% aqueous hydrazine equal molar amount to the semicarbazide present in said
solution (55 g, 1.10 moles) were placed in a 250 ml, alcohol solution.
3-neck ?ask and heated at re?ux (ll5°—120° C.) for 8. A process for making semicarbazide hydrochloride
three hours evolving gaseous ammonia. At the end of 45 comprising the steps of:
the reaction period, the excess hydrazine and accompa (a) reacting hydrazine hydrate with urea at a temper
nying water were vacuum stripped at 70° C. and 10 ature from about 100° C. to about 120° C. and at a
torr, leaving semicarbazide and by-products including mole ratio of hydrazine to urea from about 0.95:1 to
hydrazodicarbonamide. These were separated by di about 1.1:1 to form a reaction mixture comprising
gesting in 200 ml of boiling methanol for 45 minutes and semicarbazide, water and methanol-insoluble by
filtering off the insoluble hydrazodicarbonamide (5.5 g). products;
The ?ltrate was cooled to 10° C. and a solution of 37 g (b) removing substantially all of the water from the
(one mole) of anhydrous hydrogen chloride in 65 ml of reaction mixture;
methanol added. The product precipitated, was ?ltered (0) mixing a suf?cient amount of methanol with the
off, washed with 50 ml of methanol and dried to give water-deleted reaction mixture to dissolve said
100 g of semicarbazide hydrochloride-89.7% of the semicarbazide and to precipitate said methanol
ory based on urea charged and assaying 97.6% by insoluble by-products from the resulting methanol
NaOH titration. solution;
Comparison I (d) ?ltering said precipitated methanol-insoluble by
products from said methanol solution;
Use Of Aqueous Acid Conditions (e) adding anhydrous hydrogen chloride to said
Urea and 64% hydrazine were reacted on the same methanol solution to form and precipitate semicar
scale and conditions as in Example I, except that after bazide hydrochloride, the amount of said hydrogen
digesting the mixture and ?ltering away the hy chloride added being approximately an equal molar
drazodicarbonamide, 98 g of 37% aqueous hydrochlo amount to the semicarbazide present in the metha
ric acid (1 mole) was added to precipitate the semicar 65 nol solution; and '
bazide hydrochloride. The product was ?ltered from (f) ?ltering said semicarbazide hydrochloride from
the methanol/water solution, washed with methanol said methanol solution.
and dried to give 862 g, which represents 77.3% of ill it * I.‘ \l‘