Acetonitrile Acetylene

B.p. about 0°. Very poisonous. Powerful methylating agent. HCl — >- CHgCl. I —> CHgIg. HCN —> acetonitrile. Acetylene—pyrazole. Acids —> methyl esters. Phenols —> methyl ethers. 

Irradiation of ethyleneimine (341,342) with light of short wavelength ia the gas phase has been carried out direcdy and with sensitization (343—349). Photolysis products found were hydrogen, nitrogen, ethylene, ammonium, saturated hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, propane, / -butane), and the dimer of the ethyleneimino radical. The nature and the amount of the reaction products is highly dependent on the conditions used. For example, the photoproducts identified ia a fast flow photoreactor iacluded hydrocyanic acid and acetonitrile (345), ia addition to those found ia a steady state system. The reaction of hydrogen radicals with ethyleneimine results ia the formation of hydrocyanic acid ia addition to methane (350). Important processes ia the photolysis of ethyleneimine are nitrene extmsion and homolysis of the N—H bond, as suggested and simulated by ab initio SCF calculations (351). The occurrence of ethyleneimine as an iatermediate ia the photolytic formation of hydrocyanic acid from acetylene and ammonia ia the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter has been postulated (352), but is disputed (353). 

Tetracyanoethylene oxide [3189-43-3] (8), oxiranetetracarbonitnle, is the most notable member of the class of oxacyanocarbons (57). It is made by treating TCNE with hydrogen peroxide in acetonitrile. In reactions unprecedented for olefin oxides, it adds to olefins to form 2,2,5,5-tetracyanotetrahydrofuran [3041-31-4] in the case of ethylene, acetylenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons via cleavage of the ring C—C bond. The benzene adduct (9) is 3t ,7t -dihydro-l,l,3,3-phthalantetracarbonitrile [3041-36-9], C22HgN O. 

Type 3A sieves. A crystalline potassium aluminosilicate with a pore size of about 3 Angstroms. This type of molecular sieves is suitable for drying liquids such as acetone, acetonitrile, methanol, ethanol and 2-propanol, and drying gases such as acetylene, carbon dioxide, ammonia, propylene and butadiene. The material is supplied as beads or pellets. 

The principal components of the cut are butene-1, butene-2, isobutylene and butadiene-1,3. Methyl, ethyl, and vinyl acetylenes, butane and butadiene-1,2 are present in small quantities. Butadiene is recovered from the C4 fraction by extraction with cuprous ammonium acetate (CAA) solution, or by extractive distillation with aqueous acetonitrile (ACN). The former process is a liquid-liquid separation, and the latter a vapor-liquid separation. Both take advantage of differences in structure and reactivity of the various C4 components to bring about the desired separation. 

Acetonitrile serves to greatly enlarge the spread of relative volatilities so that reasonably sized distillation equipment can be used to separate butadiene from the other components in the C4 fraction. The polar ACN acts as a very heavy component and is separated from the product without much difficulty.The feed stream is carefully hydrogenated to reduce the acetylene level rerun, and then fed to the single stage extractive distillation unit. Feed enters near the middle of the extractive distillation tower, while (lean) aqueous ACN is added near but not at the top. Butenes and butanes go overhead as distillate, with some being refluxed to the tower and the rest water washed for removal of entrained ACN. 

Dehydrochlorination of bis(tnfluoromethylthio)acetyl chloride with calcium oxide gives bis(trifluoromethylthio)ketene [5] (equation 6) Elimination of hydrogen chloride or hydrogen bromide by means of tetrabutylammonium or potassium fluoride from vinylic chlorides or bromides leads to acetylenes or allenes [6 (equation 7) Addition of dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 ether raises the yields of potassium fluoride-promoted elimination of hydrogen bromide from (Z)-P-bromo-p-ni-trostyrene in acetonitrile from 0 to 53-71 % In dimethyl formamide, yields increase from 28-35% to 58-68%... 

Iodine azide, generated in situ from an excess of sodium azide and iodine monochloride in acetonitrile, adds to ethyl l//-azepine-l-carboxylate at the C4 — C5 and C2 —C3 positions to yield a 10 1 mixture of the rw-diazidodihydro-l//-azepines 1 and 2, respectively.278 The as stereochemistry of the products is thought to be the result of initial trans addition of the iodine azide followed by an SN2 azido-deiodination. The diazides were isolated and their stereochemistry determined by conversion to their bis-l,3-dipolar cycloadducts with dimethyl acetylene-dicarboxylate. 

Acetaldehyde, 141 Acetone, 213 Acetonitrile, 118 Acetylene, 4, 73 Acrolein cisoid, 182... 

Potassium or lithium derivatives of ethyl acetate, dimethyl acetamide, acetonitrile, acetophenone, pinacolone and (trimethylsilyl)acetylene are known to undergo conjugate addition to 3-(t-butyldimethylsiloxy)-1 -cyclohexenyl t-butyl sulfone 328. The resulting a-sulfonyl carbanions 329 can be trapped stereospecifically by electrophiles such as water and methyl iodide417. When the nucleophile was an sp3-hybridized primary anion (Nu = CH2Y), the resulting product was mainly 330, while in the reaction with (trimethylsilyl)acetylide anion the main product was 331. 

Hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodobenzene 2014 reacts with phenyltrimethylsilane 81 in boiling acetonitrile to give diphenyliodonium tosylate 2015 and trimethylsilanol 4 or HMDSO 7 [184, 185]. Likewise, treatment of 2,5-bis(trimethylsilyl)furan 2016 with 2014 in boiling acetonitrile/methanol affords 78% iodonium tosylate 2017 and trimethylsilanol 4 [185]. In the presence of Bp3-OEt2 iodosobenzene oxidizes allyl-trimethylsilanes such as 2018 to unsaturated aldehydes such as 2019 in 63% yield, with formation of iodobenzene and trimethylsilanol 4 [186]. Analogously, vinyltrimethylsilanes such as (Z)-l-trimethylsilyl-2-phenylethylene 2020 afford, via 2021, acetylenes such as phenylacetylene in 61% yield and iodobenzene and trimethylsilanol 4 [187] (Scheme 12.54). 

This review covers the personal view of the authors deduced from the literature starting in the middle of the Nineties with special emphasis on the very last years former examples of structure-sensitive reactions up to this date comprise, for example, the Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation of butyne, butadiene, isoprene [11], aromatic nitro compounds [12], and of acetylene to ethylene [13], In contrast, benzene hydrogenation over Pt catalysts is considered to be structure insensitive [14] the same holds true for acetonitrile hydrogenation over Fe/MgO [15], CO hydrogenation over Pd [16], and benzene hydrogenation over Ni [17]. For earlier reviews on this field we refer to Coq [18], Che and Bennett [9], Bond [7], as well as Ponec and Bond [20]. 

The condensation of NH3 with acetylene can give rise to vinylamine, which is probably an intermediate (together with ethyUdeneimine) in the formation of acetonitrile and other condensation products (Scheme 4-7). 

Acetonitrile can be obtained in 50-90% yield on passing mixtures of NH3 and acetylene at 300-500°C over mixtures of oxides or nitrates of thorium and zinc on... 

Scheme 4-7 Possible intermediates in the reaction of acetylene and N Hj leading to acetonitrile...

Nearly quantitative yields of acetonitrile can be obtained by passing mixtures of NH3 and acetylene over zircon at 400-500°C [225], over CviOy on Y-alumina at 360°C [226] or by passing mixtures of NH, acetylene and hydrogen at 400-420°C over a mixture of zinc and thorium oxides on silica [227] or at 300-450°C over zinc oxide or zinc sulfate or zinc chloride on silica [228, 229], In such reactions, the role of traces of water has often been questioned. However, acetonitrile could be obtained under rigorously anhydrous conditions, thus demonstrating the direct amination of acetylene with NH,. It was also reported that ethyUdeneimine can be obtained in up to 26% yield [225], However, in the Ught of more recent work [230, 231] the product was most probably 2,4,6-trimethyl-l,3,5-hexahydrotriazine. 

Mixtures of EtjNH and EtjN and pyridinic bases can be obtained from the reaction of acetylene and EtNHj under similar conditions [235]. EthyUdeneimine was proposed as an intermediate in the formation of ethylamines and acetonitrile. 

It was later shown that aziridine reacts over mixtures of zinc and chromium oxides on alumina at 400°C to give the same products as those obtained from mixtures of NH3 and acetylene [221]. Aziridine, which would form by addition of NH3 to acetylene followed by IH (Scheme 4-8), was thus postulated to be an intermediate in the formation of acetonitrile (by dehydrogenation), monoethylamine (by hydrogenation) and all other heterocyclic bases (by ammonolysis and subsequent reactions) [221]. 

Standard procedure used a mixture of 0.26 mmoles acetylenic acid, 20 mg (0.005 mmoles) catalyst in acetonitrile (1.2 mol L"1) that was stirred under air atmosphere at 40°C. After completion of the reaction, the mixture was centrifugated and the solvents... 

Indium Iodine Acetonitrile, nitrogen dioxide, mercury(II) bromide, sulfur Acetaldehyde, acetylene, aluminum, ammonia (aqueous or anhydrous), antimony, bromine pentafluoride, carbides, cesium oxide, chlorine, ethanol, fluorine, formamide, lithium, magnesium, phosphorus, pyridine, silver azide, sulfur trioxide... 

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