Catalysts hydrocyanation

Miscellaneous Reactions. Sodium bisulfite adds to acetaldehyde to form a white crystalline addition compound, insoluble in ethyl alcohol and ether. This bisulfite addition compound is frequendy used to isolate and purify acetaldehyde, which may be regenerated with dilute acid. Hydrocyanic acid adds to acetaldehyde in the presence of an alkaU catalyst to form cyanohydrin the cyanohydrin may also be prepared from sodium cyanide and the bisulfite addition compound. Acrylonittile [107-13-1] (qv) can be made from acetaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid by heating the cyanohydrin that is formed to 600—700°C (77). Alanine [302-72-7] can be prepared by the reaction of an ammonium salt and an alkaU metal cyanide with acetaldehyde this is a general method for the preparation of a-amino acids called the Strecker amino acids synthesis. Grignard reagents add readily to acetaldehyde, the final product being a secondary alcohol. Thioacetaldehyde [2765-04-0] is formed by reaction of acetaldehyde with hydrogen sulfide thioacetaldehyde polymerizes readily to the trimer. 

Formamide decomposes thermally either to ammonia and carbon monoxide or to hydrocyanic acid and water. Temperatures around 100°C are critical for formamide, in order to maintain the quaUty requited. The lowest temperature range at which appreciable decomposition occurs is 180—190°C. Boiling formamide decomposes at atmospheric pressure at a rate of about 0.5%/min. In the absence of catalysts the reaction forming NH and CO predominates, whereas hydrocyanic acid formation is favored in the presence of suitable catalysts, eg, aluminum oxides, with yields in excess of 90% at temperatures between 400 and 600°C. 

In another DMF process, hydrocyanic acid reacts with methanol ia the presence of water and a titanium catalyst (16), or ia the presence of dimethylamine and a catalyst (17). 

Nickel plays a role in the Reppe polymeriza tion of acetylene where nickel salts act as catalysts to form cyclooctatetraene (62) the reduction of nickel haUdes by sodium cyclopentadienide to form nickelocene [1271 -28-9] (63) the synthesis of cyclododecatrienenickel [39330-67-1] (64) and formation from elemental nickel powder and other reagents of nickel(0) complexes that serve as catalysts for oligomerization and hydrocyanation reactions (65). 

Recently, the enantioselective addition of hydrocyanic acid to aldehydes, analogous to the synthesis of (/ )-cyanohydrins, yielding (.S)-cyanohydrins in very high optical purity, with (S )-oxynitrilase as catalyst, was reported20,21. 

A solution of (R)-oxynilrilase (F.C 4.1.2.10, 100 pi., 1000 unils/ml.) is dropped onto 1.5 g of Avicel cellulose (soaked in 0.02 M sodium acetate buffer. pH 4.5). 20 mL of diisopropyl ether are added, followed by 5 mmol of ketone and 200 pL of hydrocyanic acid, and the mixture is stirred (Table 3). The catalyst is filtered off. washed with diisopropyl ether, and the combined filtrates are concentrated. 

The Jacobsen group has also shown that the recycling of the resin-bounded catalyst can be successfully performed [152,154]. Moreover, they have developed an efficient method for the hydrolysis of the aminonitrile into the corresponding amino acid. This method was apphed for the commercial production of optically active K-amino acids at Rhodia ChiRex (e.g. tert-leucine) the catalyst was immobihsed on a resin support (4 mol %, 10 cycles) and the intermediate hydrocyanation adduct was trapped by simply replacing TFAA with HCOOH/AC2O, for example. Highly crystalhne formamide derivatives were thus obtained in excellent yields (97-98% per cycle) with very high enantioselectivities (92-93% per cycle) [158]. 

Some companies are successfully integrating chemo- and biocatalytic transformations in multi-step syntheses. An elegant example is the Lonza nicotinamide process mentioned earlier (.see Fig. 2.34). The raw material, 2-methylpentane-1,5-diamine, is produced by hydrogenation of 2-methylglutaronitrile, a byproduct of the manufacture of nylon-6,6 intermediates by hydrocyanation of butadiene. The process involves a zeolite-catalysed cyciization in the vapour phase, followed by palladium-catalysed dehydrogenation, vapour-pha.se ammoxidation with NH3/O2 over an oxide catalyst, and, finally, enzymatic hydrolysis of a nitrile to an amide. 

Starting from enantiomerically pure 4-methylsulfanyl-mandelonitrile, thiamphenicol and florfenicol have been enantioselectively synthesized (Figure 5.14). The enantiomerically pure 4-methylsulfanyl-mandelonitrile was obtained by hydrocyanation reaction of 4-methy lsulfany 1-benzaldehyde catalyzed by (M)-hydroxynitrile lyase of Badamu (almond from Xinjiang, China) (Prunus communis L. var. dulcis Borkh), which, after an extensive screening, was found to be a highly effective bio-catalyst for this reaction [85]. 

Hydrogen cyanide (Table 15.1) is a colorless, flammable liquid or gas that boils at 25.7°C and freezes at minus 13.2°C. The gas rarely occurs in nature, is lighter than air, and diffuses rapidly. It is usually prepared commercially from ammonia and methane at elevated temperatures with a platinum catalyst. It is miscible with water and alcohol, but is only slightly soluble in ether. In water, HCN is a weak acid with the ratio of HCN to CN about 100 at pH 7.2, 10 at pH 8.2, and 1 at pH 9.2. HCN can dissociate into H+ and CN. Cyanide ion, or free cyanide ion, refers to the anion CN derived from hydrocyanic acid in solution, in equilibrium with simple or complexed cyanide molecules. Cyanide ions resemble halide ions in several ways and are sometimes referred to as pseudohalide ions. For example, silver cyanide is almost insoluble in water, as are silver halides. Cyanide ions also form stable complexes with many metals. 

Nickel is frequently used in industrial homogeneous catalysis. Many carbon-carbon bond-formation reactions can be carried out with high selectivity when catalyzed by organonickel complexes. Such reactions include linear and cyclic oligomerization and polymerization reactions of monoenes and dienes, and hydrocyanation reactions [1], Many of the complexes that are active catalysts for oligomerization and isomerization reactions are supposed also to be active as hydrogenation catalysts. 

The one-step condensation to convert 2-butanone, ethyl cyano-acetate, and hydrocyanic acid to ethyl 2,3-dicyano-3-methyl-pentanoate is a modification of the procedure described by Smith and Horowitz 6 in which pyridine acetate was employed as the catalyst. Higson and Thorp 6 employed a two-step procedure in which butanone was converted to its cyanohydrin, which in turn was condensed with ethyl cyanoacetate. 

Further evidence for the formation of intermediate compounds in catalytic reactions is afforded by the observation (a) that optically active camphor is formed from optically inactive (racemic) camphor carboxylic acid in the presence of the d- or /-forms of quinine, quinidine or nicotine and (6) that optically active bases, e.g., quinidine, catalyze the synthesis of optically active mandelonitrile from benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid.10 These results hardly admit of any other interpretation than the intermittent production of a catalyst-reactant compound. 

Addition of molecules across unsaturated organic bonds is an extremely important process that includes reactions such as hydrogenation, hydroformylation, oxidation, hydrocyanation, hydrosilylation and many others. These reactions are often most effectively catalysed by homogeneous catalysts and in this chapter we will focus on hydrogenation (addition of H2) and hydroformylation (addition of H2 and CO), which are shown generically in Scheme 8.1. 

Isomerisation is also an important step in the DuPont process for making adiponitrile (Chapter 11) in which internal pentenenitriles must be converted to the terminal alkene. The catalyst is the same as that used for the hydrocyanation reaction, namely nickel(II) hydrides containing phosphite ligands. 

First we will describe the hydrocyanation of ethene as a model substrate. The catalyst precursor is a nickel(O) tetrakis(phosphite) complex which is protonated to form a nickel(II) hydride. Actually, this is an oxidative addition of HCN to nickel zero. In Figure 11.1 the hydrocyanation mechanism in a simplified form is given the basic steps are the same as for butadiene, the actual substrate, but the complications due to isomer formation are lacking. 

Hydrocyanation of olefins and dienes is an extremely important reaction [32] (about 75 % of the world s adiponitrile production is based on the hydrocyanation of 1,3-butediene). Not surprisingly, already one of the first Rhone Poluenc patents on the use of water soluble complexes of TPPTS described the Ni-catalyzed hydration of butadiene and 3-pentenenitrile (Scheme 9.10). The aqueous phase with the catalyst could be recycled, however the reaction was found not sufficiently selective. 

In the presence of a large excess of cyanide, the catalyst prepared from [Ni(COD)2] and TPPTS was also active in the hydrocyanation of allylbenzene however, at low cyanide/nickel ratios isomerization to propenylbenzene became the main reaction path (Scheme 9.9) [5]. 

The asymmetric catalytic Pauson-Khand reaction met success in the late 1990s. Not only the conventional Co catalyst but also other metal complexes, such as Ti, Rh, and Ir, are applicable to the reaction. Asymmetric hydrocyanation of vinylar-enes is accomplished using Ni complex of chiral diphosphite. Further studies on the scope and limitation are expected. 

New catalyst design further highlights the utility of the scaffold and functional moieties of the Cinchona alkaloids. his-Cinchona alkaloid derivative 43 was developed by Corey [49] for enantioselective dihydroxylation of olefins with OsO. The catalyst was later employed in the Strecker hydrocyanation of iV-allyl aldimines. The mechanistic logic behind the catalyst for the Strecker reaction presents a chiral ammonium salt of the catalyst 43 (in the presence of a conjugate acid) that would stabilize the aldimine already activated via hydrogen-bonding to the protonated quinuclidine moiety. Nucleophilic attack by cyanide ion to the imine would give an a-amino nitrile product (Scheme 10). 

The group proposed that the hydrocyanate underwent a formal Brpnsted base interaction with the guanidine catalyst, thus activating the nucleophile for addition (Fig. 9). In contrast to the bifunctional catalysts, the guanidines are basic enough to activate the substrates without the need for secondary moieties. 

Recently, Kunz et al. reported a new organocatalyst for the asymmetric Strecker reaction [132]. The paracyclophane-derived imine catalyst (280) promotes the hydrocyanation of various imines, both aromatic and aliphatic (Scheme 79). 

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