Preparation of polyalkylene polyamines

Claim 1

A process for preparing noncyclic polyalkylene polyamines comprising the steps of: contacting an alkyleneamine compound having two primary amino groups of the formula: ##STR4## wherein R is a hydrogen or a lower alkyl, x is a number from 2 to about 6 and y is a number from 1 to about 4 with a diol having primary or secondary hydroxy groups of the general formula: ##STR5## where R is a hydrogen or a lower alkyl; x is a number from 2 to about 6; and y is a number from 0 to about 3 in the presence of a catalytically effective amount of the phosphoruscontaining substance selected from the group consisting of acidic metal phosphates, phosphoric acid compounds and their anhydrides, phosphorous acid compounds and their anhydrides, alkyl or aryl phosphate esters, alkyl or aryl phosphite esters, alkyl or aryl substituted phosphorous acids and phosphoric acids wherein said alkyl groups have from 1 to about 8 carbon atoms and said aryl groups have from 6 to about 20 carbon atoms, alkali metal monosalts of phosphoric acid and mixtures of the above at temperatures of from about 250° to about 350° C under a pressure sufficient to maintain the mixture essentially in liquid phase wherein said alkyleneamine compound is present in molar excess; and, recovering said polyalkylene polyamine compound from the resultant reaction mixture.