Acetone cyanohydrin route

Selected physical properties of various methacrylate esters, amides, and derivatives are given in Tables 1—4. Tables 3 and 4 describe more commercially available methacrylic acid derivatives. A2eotrope data for MMA are shown in Table 5 (8). The solubiUty of MMA in water at 25°C is 1.5%. Water solubiUty of longer alkyl methacrylates ranges from slight to insoluble. Some functionalized esters such as 2-dimethylaniinoethyl methacrylate are miscible and/or hydrolyze. The solubiUty of 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate in water at 25°C is 13%. Vapor—Hquid equiUbrium (VLE) data have been pubHshed on methanol, methyl methacrylate, and methacrylic acid pairs (9), as have solubiUty data for this ternary system (10). VLE data are also available for methyl methacrylate, methacrylic acid, methyl a-hydroxyisobutyrate, methanol, and water, which are the critical components obtained in the commercially important acetone cyanohydrin route to methyl methacrylate (11). 

The production of MMA has long been accomplished by the old standby acetone cyanohydrin route. (5 Figure 19—4.) Acetone reacts with hydrogen... 

Several alternate routes to MMA eliminate ammonium bisulfate byproduct—really a coproduct since its 1.5 tons for every 10 tons of MMA produced. They also do not involve HCN, always a safety problem in the plants and sometimes an unreliable market. Although these routes are more efficient and economical, American producers have stuck to the acetone cyanohydrin route. The plants are fully amortized and by staying with the old technology, producers can avoid the large capital investments associated with a new plant. 

Acetone-cyanohydrin route Acetone -.68 52 days/weeks 1/750 3.2... 

The competitiveness of the oxidation of isobutene compared to the conventional acetone cyanohydrin route (Equation 33) is not only related to its performance and better environmental standards but has to contend with the demands of other users for isobutene, particularly for MTBE and ETBE production. In fact the predominant methacrylic acid process is still the hydrolysis of acetone cyanohydrin however, the change of mood on the use of MTBE in gasoline blends in the USA, could signal a future shift of isobutene availability making it a more attractive feedstock for methacrylic acid production. 

The construction of the sulphuric acid recovery unit was forced on ICI once the decision to continue with the acetone cyanohydrin route was made. Huge resources in financial and personnel terms were directed to... 

This process avoids the by-product ammonium sulfate formed from the acetone cyanohydrin route. 

Considerable research is currendy directed toward development of novel technologies that may present economic advantages with respect to the conventional acetone cyanohydrin (ACH) route. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. has developed and patented a modified acetone cyanohydrin-based route... 

The outstanding chemical property of cyanohydrins is the ready conversion to a-hydroxy acids and derivatives, especially a-amino and a,P-unsaturated acids. Because cyanohydrins are primarily used as chemical intermediates, data on production and prices are not usually pubUshed. The industrial significance of cyanohydrins is waning as more direct and efficient routes to the desired products are developed. Acetone cyanohydrin is the world s most prominent industrial cyanohydrin because it offers the main route to methyl methacrylate manufacture. 

Acetone Cyanohydrin. This cyanohydrin, also known as a-hydroxyisobutyronitnle and 2-methyUactonitrile [75-86-5], is very soluble in water, diethyl ether, and alcohol, but only slightly soluble in carbon disulfide or petroleum ether. Acetone cyanohydrin is the most important commercial cyanohydrin as it offers the principal commercial route to methacrylic acid and its derivatives, mainly methyl methacrylate [80-62-6] (see Methacrylic acid AND derivatives). The principal U.S. manufacturers are Rohm and Haas Co., Du Pont, CyRo Industries, and BP Chemicals. Production of acetone cyanohydrin in 1989 was 582,000 metric tons (30). 

Cyanohydrin Synthesis. Another synthetically useful enzyme that catalyzes carbon—carbon bond formation is oxynitnlase (EC 4.1.2.10). This enzyme catalyzes the addition of cyanides to various aldehydes that may come either in the form of hydrogen cyanide or acetone cyanohydrin (152—158) (Fig. 7). The reaction constitutes a convenient route for the preparation of a-hydroxy acids and P-amino alcohols. Acetone cyanohydrin [75-86-5] can also be used as the cyanide carrier, and is considered to be superior since it does not involve hazardous gaseous HCN and also virtually eliminates the spontaneous nonenzymatic reaction. (R)-oxynitrilase accepts aromatic (97a,b), straight- (97c,e), and branched-chain aUphatic aldehydes, converting them to (R)-cyanohydrins in very good yields and high enantiomeric purity (Table 10). 

Research is currently directed toward development of novel technologies that may present economic advantages with respect to the conventional acetone cyanohydrin lACHl route. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. has developed and patented n modified acetone cyanohydrin-based route that docs not use sulfuric acid and therefore presents the opportunity lor reduced waste costs. A nuvel C-3 route based on the palladium-catalyzed carbonylaiion of methylatelylenc has been developed by Shell Oil Co. There have been significant improvements in catalysts and resulting yields for key transformations in many routes since the 19K(K... 

Aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes in the presence of dialkylamines and an equivalent of acid such as hydrochloric, perchloric or p-toluenesulfonic acid give iminium salts, which add cyanide ion to form a-(dialkylamino)nitriles. An alternative preparation involves the reaction of the aldehyde with dialkylamines in the presence of acetone-cyanohydrin, a-(A, -dialkylamino)isobutyronitiiles, diethyl phosphorocyanidate or TMS-CN. Another route to a-aminonitrile starts with an aldehyde, the salt of an amine and KCN in organic solvents under solid-liquid two-phase conditions by combined use of alumina and ultrasound. Chiral a-aminonitriles were prepared by Strecker-type reactions, cyano-silylation of Schiffs bases, amination of a-siloxynitriles or from an A -cyanomethyl-l,3-oxazolidine synthon. Reaction of tertiary amines with CIO2 in the presence of 5.1 mol equiv. of aqueous NaCN as an external nucleophile affords a-aminonitrile. °... 

For the first reaction scheme, the bromo nitrile was prepared via radical bromination of the appropriate nitrile, and the mesityl ester was prepared by treatment of acetone cyanohydrin. With mesityl chloride in the presence of an amine base. The next two routes are sufficiently clear to require no further explanation. 

Figure 2.63 Acetone cyanohydrin (a) and alternative routes (b) in the synthesis of methacrylic acid.

In the petrochemical industry the introduction of unsaturations in hydrocarbons is mainly obtained by dehydrogenation. This kind of reaction is less suitable for the functionalization of fine chemicals, because the high temperature necessary for the endothermic reaction can lead to the decomposition of thermally unstable compounds. An alternative reaction consists in the oxidative dehydrogenation, that can be carried out at lower temperatiu es. An example of this kind of reaction is constituted by the synthesis of methacrylic add (MAA, intermediate of methylmethacrylate production) via the oxidative dehydrogenation of isobutyric add (IBA), itself obtained from isobutyraldehyde (by-product of the oxo synthesis of nbutyraldehyde from propylene). This process constitutes one of the economically most interesting routes, alternative to the acetone-cyanohydrin process, which nowadays is the predominant process for the MAA production. 

Vinyl compounds are widely used in the industry in manufacture of various resins and polymers and the like. Methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate are especially attractive as row materials of polymethyl methacrylate that is an important polymer so-called "organic glass." Until a new process consisting of two-step oxidation of isobutylene was commercially practiced in 1982, methyl methacrylate had been produced by the "Acetone Cyanohydrine Process," which uses acetone, hydrogen cyanide, methanol, and sulfuric acid as raw materials. Technical and economical drawbacks of this process have spurred a considerable industrial research effort to develop an alternate route to methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate. Therefore, many attempts have been focused on the production of these compounds by aldol-type condensation using HCHO. 

The current industrial production of methylmethacrylate by the acetone-cyanohydrin process suffers from a number of drawbacks, which make it environmentally unfriendly. In particular, it makes use of a very toxic reactant (HCN) and intermediate (acetone cyanohydrin), and coproduces large amounts of impure ammonium sulphate, contaminated with organic compounds. Among the several alternative synthetic routes which have been proposed, particularly interesting from both the practical and scientific points of view is the single-step oxidation of isobutane to methacrylic acid, intermediate in the synthesis of methylmethacrylate. Several industrial companies have studied this reaction (and the selective oxidation of propane to acrylic acid, as well), and it has been established that the most active and selective catalysts are those which are based on Keggin-type polyoxometalates (POM s), containing phosphorus and molybdenum as the main components [1-18]. 

Methacrylonitrile, CH2=C(CH3)CN, can also be prepared by several routes. Some commercial processes are based on acetone cyanohydrin intermediate and others on dehydrogenation (or oxydehydrogenation) of isobutyronitrile. It is also prepared from isobutylene by ammoxidation ... 

Several other types of hydrocarboxylations and hydroesterifications have been conducted with rates and selectivity that are appropriate for the synthesis of fine chemicals and commodity chemicals. One target for hydroesterification has been methyl methacrylate, the monomer of polyfmethyl methacrylate), which is the polymer often called "acrylic". It is estimated that 2.1 million metric tons of methyl methacrylate was produced in 2005. Much of this material is produced from acetone cyanohydrin, but two alternative routes could involve catalytic carbonylation. The first route would involve the hydroesterification of methylacetylene, and this chemistry relates to the original route to methyl methacrylate by carbonylation of methylacetylene using nickel carbonyl as catalyst. The second route involves the sequence of ethylene hydoesterification, aldol addition of the resulting ester to formaldehyde, and dehydration. This sequence comprises Lucite s new "Alpha" process and is shown in Equation 17.33. The route to methyl methacrylate by hydrocarboxylation of ethylene produces water as the only byproduct. 

The enantioselective conjugate cyanations of electron-deficient alkenic acceptors were also reported by Ricci et al. [42], Deng et al. [51], and Shibata et al. [30] with cinchona-derived phase-transfer catalysts. Moreover, Deng and Shibata applied these conjugate additions of acetone cyanohydrin to develop the enantioselective catalytic routes to chiral dihydropyridazinones, pyrollines, and pyrrohdines, which are the core units of many bioactive compounds (Scheme 12.26). 

Addition of HCN to acetone to form the cyanohydrin is still the main route to methyl methacrylate. Hydrocyanins can be converted to amino acids as well. The nitrile group can be easily converted to amines, carboxylic acids, amides, etc. Addition to aldehydes and activated alkenes can be done with simple base, but addition to unactivated alkenes requires a transition metal catalyst. The methods of HCN addition have been discussed by Brown [2],... 

Reductive decyanation. This reaction is a key step in a route to syn-l,3-diol acetonides from P-trimethylsilyloxy aldehydes (1). Reaction of 1 with trimethylsilyl cyanide followed by acetonation gives a 1 1 mixture of a protected cyanohydrin (2). This mixture is converted into a single isomer (3) on alkylation of the anion of the cyanohydrin acetonide. Reductive decyanation with Na-NH3 at -78° produces a syn-diol acetonide (4). The apparent retention of configuration in the reduction results from preferential formation of an intermediate axial anion. 

Methyl methacrylate (MMA) is an important commodity since it is polymerized to give poly methylmethacrylate (PMMA), a strong, durable and transparent polymer sold under the trade-names Perspex and Plexiglas. Since the conventional routes to MMA involve either the reaction of acetone with HCN to give the cyanohydrin (which has environmental problems), or the oxidation of isobutene, alternative carbonylation routes to MMA are being developed. One of these is the Lucite Alpha process which is claimed to decrease production costs by ca. 40%. This first synthesizes methyl propionate by a methoxycarbonylation of ethylene (Equation 23), using a palladium catalyst with very high (99.8%) selectivity. In the second step, MMA is formed in 95% selectivity by the reaction of methyl propionate with formaldehyde (Equation 24). 

One route to a-methyl acrylic acid (or methacrylic acid) and its esters is by a cyanohydrin reaction of acetone ... 

The approved way of preparing the cyanohydrine 299 by the addition of prussic acid is no problem in the case of 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde 280, The use of acetone cyanhydrine as a source of prussic acid [629] seems to be advantageous. In order to circumvent the aldehyde 280, an alternative route from the trimethyl-3-phenoxy benzylammonium salt 296 and the corresponding 3-phenoxybenzyl nitrile 297 [630] was proposed, in which oxalic ester condensation and subsequent brominative degradation of this whole group was applied (Reaction scheme 211). This procedure supposedly yields a particularly pure a-bromobenzyl cyanide 298 [631]. 

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