A method for producing a carbodiimide compound, comprising a carbodiimide production step of reacting an aliphatic tertiary isocyanate compound (A) in the presence of an organic alkali metal compound (B) having Lewis basicity.

The present invention relates to a method for oxidative cleavage of a substrate consisting of at least one functionalised or non-functionalised linear olefin, in particular a mono- or polyunsaturated aliphatic carboxylic acid, or one of the esters thereof, or at least one non-functionalised cyclic olefin, using hydrogen peroxide, in the presence of a metal catalyst which consists of at least one onium halooxodiperoxometallate. It also relates to a novel catalyst consisting of a specific onium halooxodiperoxometallate which can be used, in particular, in said method.

Methods of post-polymerization modification of a polymer are provided herein. The present methods comprise the step of reacting a polymer with at least one nucleophile in a nucleophilic substitution reaction performed without a solvent to produce a functionalized polymer. The nucleophile can be selected from the group consisting of thioacetate, phenoxide, alkoxide, carboxylate, thiolate, thiocarboxylate, dithiocarboxylate, thiourea, thiocarbamate, dithiocarbamate, xanthate, thiocyanate. Nucleophilic substitution reaction can be performed in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst. Nucleophilic substitution reaction can also be performed via a two-step in-situ reactive mixing process with the initial formation of the polymer-amine ionomer (polymer-NR.sub.3.sup.+Br) which catalyzes the subsequent nucleophilic substitution with a second nucleophile to form a bi-functional polymer.

According to one embodiment, a reduction catalyst includes a current collector including a metal layer; and organic molecules including a quaternary nitrogen cation, which are bonded to the metal layer. The organic molecules are represented by any of the following general formulae I to V.

##STR00001##

Provided is a method for producing a compound represented by general formula (I) by oxidative cleavage of a compound of formula (II), which is a bicyclic tetrasubstituted olefin compound, using hydrogen peroxide. The method for producing a compound represented by general formula (I) includes a step of subjecting a compound represented by general formula (II) to oxidative cleavage using hydrogen peroxide in the presence of an acid catalyst or in the presence of a tungstic acid compound to obtain the compound represented by general formula (I):

##STR00001##

[In the formulae, formula -A.sup.1- (where the front bond denotes a bond that bonds with a carbon atom C.sup.1 while the back bond denotes a bond that bonds with a carbon atom C.sup.2) is an alkylene group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms that may have been substituted and that may further include an ether bond, an ester bond, a secondary amino group, a thioether group, or these, and formula -A.sup.2- (where the front bond denotes a bond that bonds with a carbon atom C.sup.1 while the back bond denotes a bond that bonds with a carbon atom C.sup.2) is an alkylene group having 4 to 10 carbon atoms that may have been substituted and that may further include an ether bond, an ester bond, a secondary amino group, a thioether group, or these.]

The present invention concerns a catalyst system in particular a catalyst system comprising Palladium (Pd), a zwitterion and/or an acid-functionalized ionic liquid, and one or more phosphine ligands, wherein the Pd catalyst can be provided by a complex precursor, such as Pd(CH.sub.3COO).sub.2, PdCl.sub.2, Pd(CH.sub.3COCHCOCH.sub.3), Pd(CF.sub.3COO).sub.2, Pd(PPh.sub.3).sub.4 or Pd.sub.2(dibenzylideneacetone).sub.3. Such catalyst systems can be used for e.g. alkoxycarbonylation reactions, carboxylation reactions, and/or in a co-polymerization reaction, e.g. in the production of methyl propionate and/or propanoic acid, optionally in processes forming methyl methacrylate and/or methacrylic acid. Catalyst systems according to the invention are suitable for reactions forming separable product and catalyst phases and supported ionic liquid phase SILP applications.

An object of a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a radical generating catalyst that can generate (produce) radicals under mild conditions. In order to achieve the above object, a first radical generating catalyst according to the first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that it includes ammonium and/or a salt thereof. A second radical generating catalyst according to the first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that it includes an organic compound having Lewis acidic properties and/or Brønsted acidic properties.

A method for producing metal carbonate is disclosed. The method includes the following steps of providing a first mixture of metal and a catalyst containing iron, NO groups, and N-containing ligands first; then introducing carbon dioxide to the first mixture to form a second mixture and obtaining a product. The method described here can improve the yield and decrease the cost of metal carbonate production.

The present invention is directed to reaction mixtures comprising a water-surfactant mixture, wherein the catalyst comprises a compound with solubilizing groups. This technology improves the solubility of the reaction components in the water-surfactant mixture and thereby, greatly increases the productivity and selectivity of the chemical reaction.

A crosslinkable composition including at least one crosslinkable component that is crosslinkable under the action of a base catalyst, a first carbonate salt according to a first formula as latent base crosslinking catalyst, and a second carbonate salt according to a second formula as potlife extender, wherein the second carbonate is present in an amount of at least 5 mole % and preferably at most 500 mole % relative to the molar amount of the first carbonate. Further disclosed are catalyst compositions composed of the first and second carbonate salts, to the use of the catalyst composition as base catalyst system in crosslinkable compositions and the crosslinkable compositions, in particular coating compositions comprising the catalyst composition.