A kinetic study on the catalytic preparation of formaldehyde

Methyl formcel is a main reactant in catalytic reductive dimethylation of acetylhydrazine to produce unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine. One suitable method to produce methyl formcel is using of trioxan and methanol. Preliminary experiments showed that the reaction rate is very low in the absence of catalyst. In this paper, the reaction kinetics was studied in the presence of sodium hydroxide as catalyst in a temperature range of 25-50°C. Results demonstrated the order of methanol was first at high concentrations of methanol and second in low concentrations of methanol. In each case the order of trioxan was first. Activation energy in the two states was 12.5 kJ/mol and 18.3 kJ/mol.