Metal organic compounds

Abstract: Metal organic compounds comprising three atoms of cobalt, nickel or bismuth each linked through oxygen atoms to boron or phosphorus and comprising a combination of aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acid residues are useful as adhesion promoters to promote the adhesion of brass-coated steel to vulcanised rubber.

Description: This invention relates to metal organic compounds, compositions containing them, and their use. Compounds comprising three atoms of a divalent metal, e.g. cobalt, each linked through oxygen atoms to a boron or phosphorus atom and comprising aliphatic monocarboxylic acid residues bonded to the metal are known. Such known compounds have been used as additives to rubber skim stock to improve adhesion of the rubber to metal. They are provided in a form which is readily handleable, and in particular is not inherently tacky or viscous. EP-A-150840 describes a rubber-steel cord adhesion promoter represented by the general formula in which Y₁, Y₂ and Y₃ are identical or different and each represents a resin acid radical, a naphthenic acid radical or an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid radical having 7 to 24 carbon atoms provided that Y₁, Y₂ and Y₃ are not simultaneously aliphatic monocarboxylic acid radicals having 7 to 15, particularly 7 to 11, carbon atoms. The promoter is said to aid in imparting high rubber-to-steel cord adhesion strength which is retained for an extended period of time even at high temperature and humidity. The present invention provides new compounds which have the advantages of the aforesaid known compounds, but which improve still further the adhesion of rubber to brass-coated steel cord and the retention of such adhesion under conditions of steam and salt ageing, when compared to the known cobalt-containing compounds. According to the present invention there are provided metal-organic compounds for use in promoting adhesion of rubber to metal, of average formula: X(OMA' p ) m (OMB' p ) n in which: X is boron (B ), phosphorus (P ), or phosphorus bonded to an oxo oxygen (OP ); M is cobalt, nickel, or bismuth; B' is an aromatic carboxylic acid residue of 7 to 11 carbon atoms; A' is an aliphatic carboxylic acid residue of 7 to 11 carbon atoms; p is 1 when M is cobalt or nickel or 2 when M is bismuth; n is 0.5 to 2, preferably 0.5 to 1.5, and m is (3-n). The aliphatic carboxylic acid (A'-H) is preferably a monocarboxylic acid, e.g. n-heptanoic acid, 2,2-dimethylpentanoic, 2-ethylpentanoic acid, 4,4-dimethylpentanoic acid, n-octanoic acid, 2,2-dimethylhexanoic acid, 2-ethylhexanoic acid, 4,4-dimethylhexanoic acid, 2,4,4-trimethylpentanoic acid, n-nonanoic acid, 2,2-dimethylheptanoic acid, 6,6-dimethylheptanoic acid, 3,5,5-trimethylhexanoic acid, n-decanoic acid, 2,2-dimethyloctanoic acid, 7,7-dimethyloctanoic acid, n-undecanoic acid, or the mixture of 2,2,2-trialkyl acetic acids known as neodecanoic or versatic acid. The aromatic carboxylic acid (B'-H) may be, for example, benzoic acid, an alkyl-, alkoxy-, amino-, halogen-, thio-, or hydroxy-substituted benzoic acid, such as salicylic acid, anthranilic acid, or 4-chloro-benzoic acid, phthalic acid, terephthalic acid, cinnamic acid, or a more complex aromatic acid comprising a conjugated ring system. According to a preferred feature of the invention B' is a residue of benzoic acid, salicylic acid, anthranilic acid, cinnamic acid, phthalic acid, terephthalic acid, or 4-chlorobenzoic acid, A' is a residue of neodecanoic acid, isoundecanoic acid, or 2-ethylhexanoic acid, n is 0.5 to 1.5 and m is 2.5 to 1.5. The metal-organic compound may be associated with a borate of an element of group IA or IIA of the Periodic Table (i.e. an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal). Said borates may be present at a concentration of up to 20% by weight of the metal organic compound. Suitable borates include sodium borate, potassium borate, calcium borate and magnesium borate. The metal organic compound may also be associated with microcrystalline wax and/or process oil. The novel metal organic compounds may be incorporated as adhesion promoters in rubber skim stock comprising rubber and conventional rubber compounding ingredients. The metal-organic compound may be present in an amount between 0.2 and 2 parts by weight per hundred parts by weight of rubber, and preferably the metal-organic compound provides about 0.224 parts by weight of cobalt metal per hundred parts by weight of rubber. The invention further provides vulcanised rubber reinforced with brass-coated steel comprising, as adhesion promotor, at least one of the metal organic compounds of the invention, as described above. The metal organic compounds of the present invention may be made by heating together a mixture in the required proportions of (1) the acids A'H and B'H which give rise to the residues A' and B' as defined above, (2) a source of the metal M such as in particular an oxide, hydroxide or carbonate of that metal, (3) a borate, phosphite or phosphate ester of a lower alcohol, e.g. n-butanol, and (4) an acid capable of forming a volatile ester with the lower alcohol residues present in the said borate, phosphite or phosphate ester, e.g. acetic acid or propionic acid, and distilling off the said volatile ester, preferably under reduced pressure. All of the acids (1) and (4) and the metal source (2) must be pre-reacted before the ester (3) is added. The reaction temperature is typically in the range 50 to 250°C. The invention is illustrated by the following Examples. Examples 1 to 26 describe the preparation of the new metal organic compounds. Example 1 Neodecanoic acid (210 g), propionic acid (147 g) and xylene (300 g) were charged to a reaction flask and heated at 50°C with mechanical stirring. Cobaltous hydroxide (171 g) was added and the temperature raised to 90°C with mechanical stirring to produce a mobile blue liquid. Further heat was applied to remove water of reaction via xylene entrainment using a Dean & Stark trap. When the temperature had reached 140°C, benzoic acid (73 g) dissolved in xylene (150 g) was gradually added to the reaction mixture while the water formed was continuously removed. After completion of water removal (65 g) the xylene was removed by short path distillation to a maximum temperature of 155°C using vacuum to complete the removal. n-Butyl orthoborate (138 g) was added. The reaction mixture was heated to 190°C and refluxed for three hours. n-Butyl propionate (220 g) was then distilled off at a maximum temperature of 220°C with vacuum to complete the ester removal. The product (437 g) was a hard blue solid of average formula: B(OCoB') (OCoA')₂ Where A' = neodecanoate and B' = benzoate Example 2 Neodecanoic acid (29.4 kg) and xylene (14.5 kg) were charged to a reaction vessel and heated with stirring to 90°C. Cobaltous hydroxide (20.6 kg) was added and allowed to slurry with mechanical stirring for 15 minutes. Propionic acid (17.6 kg) was added and the batch was kept at 90°C for 30 minutes. Heat was then applied to remove water of reaction via distillation. When the temperature reached 130°C benzoic acid (6 kg) was added. The reaction was continued to a temperature of 190°C and the water of reaction (7.9 kg) and xylene (14.5 kg) were removed by vacuum distillation. n-Butyl orthoborate (18.6 kg) was added and the batch kept overnight at 160°C. The temperature was then raised to 220°C and n-butyl propionate (28 kg) was distilled off over a period of six hours with a vacuum in the final stages. A hard blue solid product (52 kg) was obtained. Example 3 A solution of cobalt neodecanoate propionate (800 g) at 10% (w/w) cobalt in mineral spirits was heated to 50°C with mechanical stirring. Propionic acid (50 g) and benzoic acid (83 g) were added. The reaction mass was mixed for 10 minutes and cobaltous hydroxide (65 g) was then added. The reaction mixture was heated to 190°C and water (24 g) and mineral spirits (380 g) were distilled off. n-Butyl orthoborate (157 g) was added and the reaction mixture heated under reflux at 180°C for one hour. n-Butyl propionate (250 g) was then removed by distillation at a maximum temperature of 230°C, vacuum being used to complete the ester distillation. The product (497 g) was a hard blue solid of average formula: B(OCoB') (OCoA')₂ Where A' = neodecanoate and B' = benzoate Examples 4-26 Carboxylic acid A (1-2 mole), carboxylic acid B (0-1 mole) and either propionic acid (1 mole) or acetic acid (1 mole) together with xylene, were charged to a reaction flask and heated to 50°C with stirring. An addition of a metal (cobalt, bismuth or nickel) oxide, hydroxide or carbonate (1.0 mole) was made and the mixture was heated to remove water of reaction via xylene entrainment using a Dean & Stark trap. When the water formed by the reaction had been removed, the xylene was removed by short path distillation to a maximum temperature of 180°C using vacuum to complete the removal. Either n-butyl orthoborate (0.33 mole) or tri(n-butyl)phosphate (0.33 mole) was added and the reaction mixture was heated under reflux for three hours before the ester (1.0 mole) was removed by distillation to a maximum temperature of 230°C, again using vacuum to complete the distillation. The reaction products are hard solids of the average general formula: X(OMA' p ) m (OMB' p ) n X = boron or phosphorus bonded to an oxo oxygen M = cobalt, bismuth or nickel p = 1 or 2 A = aliphatic acid residue B = aromatic acid residue and the ratio of m to n is as shown in the Table. In addition a selected number of compounds were:- (1) Dissolved in process oil to give solutions at 16% cobalt. This produced mobile, intense blue solutions. (2) Dispersed with paraffin wax at levels of 10-20% wax. This has the effect of reducing brittleness and further reducing any tendency to form dust. (3) Dissolved in mineral spirits to give low viscosity intense blue solutions. The compounds prepared in this way are shown in the following list. Rubber skim stock in accordance with the present invention comprises rubber plus conventional rubber compounding ingredients such as pigments, fillers, extenders, accelerators, antioxidants, vulcanising agents, etc. and, as an adhesion promoter, a metal-organic compound of the present invention. A rubber skim stock was prepared having the following composition:- Vulcanisable compositions were prepared using the above rubber skim stock and the adhesion promoters listed below. Adhesion Promoter Parts per hundred parts of rubber Cobalt concentration (parts per 100 parts of rubber) Cobalt Stearate 1.58 0.15 Manobond C22.5 0.67 0.15 Example 3 0.64 0.15 Example 15 0.66 0.15 Example 5 0.66 0.15 Example 6 0.68 0.15 Example 10 0.61 0.15 The adhesion promoters were added to the skim stock during mixing in a 1.5 litre laboratory internal mixer and sheeted off on a 2-roll laboratory mill. All the compositions were vulcanised to T₉₀ + six minutes at 153°C. Adhesion tests were carried out using a modified static block pull test based upon ASTM D2229 using an embedment length of 10 mm. Typical brass coated steel tyre cord of the construction 2 + 2 x 0.25 from Bekaert was used, each cord having a coating of brass with an average copper content of 63.5%. Adhesion values are quoted in Newtons/10 mm. The results are given in Table 1. Ageing Conditions The samples were further tested for fatigue to failure in kilocycles at 100% extension of the rubber using a Monsanto Fatigue to Failure tester. Results are shown in Table 2. The results given in these Tables shows that rubber skim stock comprising the metal-organic compounds of the present invention exhibits substantially improved fatigue to failure and improvements in adhesion of rubber to metal under steam aged, salt aged and control conditions in comparison with rubber skim stock comprising known metal-organic compounds.

Claims: A metal organic compound of average formula: X(OMA' p ) m (OMB' p ) n wherein X is B , P or OP ; M is cobalt, nickel, or bismuth; B' is a residue of an aromatic carboxylic acid of 7 to 11 carbon atoms, A' is a residue of an aliphatic carboxylic acid of 7 to 11 carbon atoms, p is 1 when M is cobalt or nickel or 2 when M is bismuth, n is 0.5 to 2, and m is (3-n). A metal organic compound according to claim 1 in which X is B and M is cobalt (II). A metal organic compound according to claim 1 or 2 in which B' is a residue of benzoic acid, salicylic acid, anthranilic acid, cinnamic acid, phthalic acid, terephthalic acid, or 4-chlorobenzoic acid, A' is a residue of neodecanoic acid, isoundecanoic acid, or 2-ethylhexanoic acid, n is 0.5 to 1.5 and m is 2.5 to 1.5. A metal organic compound as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 associated with up to 20% by weight of a borate of a metal of Group IA or IIA of the Periodic Table. A metal organic compound as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 associated with microcrystalline wax and/or process oil. A rubber skim stock comprising rubber, conventional rubber compounding ingredients, and, as an adhesion promoter, at least one metal organic compound as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3. A rubber skim stock according to claim 6 comprising 0.2 to 2 parts by weight of the said metal organic compound per hundred parts by weight of rubber. Vulcanised rubber reinforced with brass-coated steel comprising, as adhesion promoter, at least one metal organic compound as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3.

Inventors: HILTON JOHN MICHAEL, PRINCE JOHN WILLIAM, TATE PHILIP EDWARD RUSSELL, HILTON, JOHN MICHAEL, PRINCE, JOHN WILLIAM, TATE, PHILIP EDWARD RUSSELL
Applicants: RHONE POULENC CHEMICALS, RHONE-POULENC CHEMICALS LIMITED
Application year: 1991
Main classification: C07F15
IPC codes: C07F15, C08J5, C08K5, C08L21, C07F9