Preparation of Organic Nitriles

摘要

1,178,950. Production of nitriles. E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO. 10 Sept., 1968 [12 Sept., 1967], No. 42947/68. Heading C2C. Organic nitriles are obtained by contacting an organic compound containing at least one aliphatic carbon-carbon double bond and from 2 to 20 carbon atoms with HCN at a temperature of from - 25‹ C. to 200‹ C. in the presence of a nickel compound of formula where A1-4, which may be the same or different, are neutral ligands of the formula M(X,Y,Z), where M is P, As or Sb and X, Y and Z, which may be the same or different, are R or OR, where R is an alkyl or aryl group containing up to 18 carbon atoms, and X and/or Y and/or Z may be co-joined, and in the presence of a triaryl phosphite in an amount of at least 6 moles per mole of nickel present, the aryl groups of said phosphite containing up to 18 carbon atoms and said 6 moles of triaryl phosphite including any triaryl phosphite present in the nickel compound. A preferred group of the catalysts, which may be preformed or prepared in situ, are compounds of the formula Ni[P(OR) 3 ] 4 , where the R groups, which may be the same or different, are aryl groups containing up to 18 carbon atoms; preferred triaryl phosphites are triphenyl phosphite, tri-(pmethoxyphenyl)-phosphite and tricresyl phosphites. A solvent may be present or the ligand may serve as part or all of the solvent and the catalyst may also include a promoter, e.g. a boron compound or a cationic form of a metal such as zinc, cadmium, beryllium, aluminium, gallium, indium, thallium, titanium, zirconium, hafnium erbium, germanium, tin, vanadium, niobium, scandium, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, rhenium, palladium, thorium, iron or cobalt. Many examples are given in which the unsaturated organic starting material is butadiene, 3-pentenenitrile or pentenenitrile, which compounds yield corresponding mono- or dinitriles. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specifications 1,146,330 and 1,112,539.