Process hazard evaluation and exothermic mechanism for the synthesis of n-butylmagnesium bromide Grignard reagent in different solvents

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The synthesis of Grignard reagents, which are formed by the reaction of magnesium and organic halides (RX), is hazardous because of the highly exothermic nature of this reaction. In this work, calorimetry and infrared (IR) spectroscopy were used to identify the exothermic mechanism and process hazards for the synthesis of n-butylmagnesium bromide Grignard reagent (n-BuMgBr) in diethyl ether (DE), tetrahydrofuran (THF), 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF), cyclopentylmethyl ether (CPME), and diethylene glycol butyl ether (DGBE). The latter three solvents were chosen by the substitution principle of the “inherent safety” design concept, which aims to reduce the risk of the target reaction in a fundamental manner. An EasyMax102 calorimeter was used to characterize the exothermic behavior of the reactions using isothermal and isoperibolic experiments carried out in a semi-batch glass reactor coupled with an IR probe to monitor changes in the species and concentrations during the reaction process. An adiabatic TAC-500A calorimeter was also used to understand the adiabatic decomposition behavior of the products obtained in the isothermal experiments under the worst-case (cooling failure and thermal runaway) scenario. Meanwhile, density functional theory calculations were performed to understand the reaction pathway and associated energies based on the experimental data. Further, the risk assessment of thermal runaway was analyzed using a risk matrix and a Stoessel criticality diagram. The results indicate that the risk of the reactions when using 2-MeTHF, CPME, and DGBE are all class 1, making reactions in these solvents inherently safer than those using DE or THF, which were both class-3 risks. These findings provide further evidence that 2-MeTHF, CPME, and DGBE are safer than the typical solvents used for the industrial production of Grignard reagents.