Cyanamide, reactions

In 1880, R. Andreasch (52) confirmed the new formula (37) by preparing thiohydantoine through condensation of thioglycolic acid with cyanamide (the reverse reaction of the basic hydrolysis of thiohydantoin). 

The synthesis of these disubstituied thioureas takes place in three steps. First the alkyl bromide is prepared by the action of hydrobromic acid on the corresponding alcohol (518). Then the dialkylcyanamide is obtained by treatment at 25°C with calcium cyanamide. The yields are of the order of 30 to 60%. Thioureas are obtained in a third step from the cyanamide by reaction at 40 C with HjS in the presence of pyridine. Yields ranged from 57 to 90% (518),... 

Several 4-amino-2,5-disubstituted thiazoles (257) have been obtained recently (702, 756, 776, 814, 820) by a ring cyclization reaction of halogeno compounds with cyanamide derivatives (263) according to the general Scheme 135. 

Reaction of 1,3-oxathiolium salts (264) with cyanamide in the presence of sodium ethoxide produces also substituted 4-aniinothiazolcs (265) (Scheme 136) (777). 

The heat of hydration is approximately —70 kj /mol (—17 kcal/mol). This process usually produces no waste streams, but if the acrylonitrile feed contains other nitrile impurities, they will be converted to the corresponding amides. Another reaction that is prone to take place is the hydrolysis of acrylamide to acryhc acid and ammonia. However, this impurity can usually be kept at very low concentrations. American Cyanamid uses a similar process ia both the United States and Europe, which provides for their own needs and for sales to the merchant market. 

In the commonly used Welland process, calcium cyanamide, made from calcium carbonate, is converted to cyanamide by reaction with carbon dioxide and water. Dicyandiamide is fused with ammonium nitrate to form guanidine nitrate. Dehydration with 96% sulfuric acid gives nitroguanidine which is precipitated by dilution. In the aqueous fusion process, calcium cyanamide is fused with ammonium nitrate ia the presence of some water. The calcium nitrate produced is removed by precipitation with ammonium carbonate or carbon dioxide. The filtrate contains the guanidine nitrate that is recovered by vacuum evaporation and converted to nitroguanidine. Both operations can be mn on a continuous basis (see Cyanamides). In the Marquerol and Loriette process, nitroguanidine is obtained directly ia about 90% yield from dicyandiamide by reaction with sulfuric acid to form guanidine sulfate followed by direct nitration with nitric acid (169—172). 

More recently, other nonphosgene routes for the preparation of aUphatic isocyanates have been reported. For example, American Cyanamid has disclosed the reaction of diisopropenylben2ene with HCl and isocyanic acid [75-13-8] to yield tetramethyixylylene diisocyanates (57). 

Other six-membered rings with two heteroatoms are also obtained from reaction of diketene with imidates, cyanamides, carbodiimides, isocyanates, oxa2olines, or other multiftmctional compounds. 

At about the same time that the Birkeland-Eyde process was developed, the Frank-Caro cyanamide process was commercialized (14). In this process limestone is heated to produce lime, which then reacts with carbon in a highly energy-demanding reaction to give calcium carbide. Reaction with N2 gives calcium cyanamide [150-62-7] which hydrolyzes to ammonia and calcium carbonate (see Cyanamides). 

Preparation. Hexagonal boron nitride can be prepared by heating boric oxide with ammonia, or by heating boric oxide, boric acid, or its salts with ammonium chloride, alkaU cyanides, or calcium cyanamide at atmospheric pressure. Elemental nitrogen does not react with boric oxide even in the presence of carbon, though it does react with elemental boron at high temperatures. Boron nitride obtained from the reaction of boron trichloride or boron trifluoride with ammonia is easily purified. 

Reaction With Nitrogen. Calcium cyanamide is produced from calcium carbide... 

Reactions. Reactions of cyanamide are either additions to the nitrile group or substitutions at the amino group. Both are involved in the dimerization to dicyandiamide. 

Dimerization involves addition of the cyanamide anion to the nitnle group of an undissociated molecule to give the anion of cyanoguanidine, or dicyandiamide. This reaction takes place most readily at pH 8—10 where the reactants are present in favorable proportion. The product is a weaker acid than cyanamide and is protonated at once with generation of a new cyanamide anion. 

Most of the reactions occurring at the amino group of the cyanamide molecule requite the anionic species, —N=C=N or HN C=N, sometimes in equivalent amount and occasionally as provided by base catalysis. Therefore, the process conditions for dimerization should be created to avoid the use of any metal salt, such as mono sodium phosphate (4). 

Sinulatly, nucleophilic reagents are suitable for addition reactions only if they are not so strongly basic as to produce the cyanamide anion in large amounts. In such cases, dicyandiamide is produced or a cyanamide salt is obtained. Ai,Ai-Disubstituted cyanamides do not ionize, of course, and react easily with strongly basic nucleophiles. 

Alkylation with a vatiety of common alkyl halides oi sulfates gives stable dialkylcyanamides. However, the intermediate monoalkylated compounds usually cannot be isolated and cychc trimers or cotrimers with cyanamide ate obtained (13). The reaction can be carried out efficientiy in water or alcohol. Allyl chloride is an especially useful reagent, producing diallylcyanamide [538-08-9J (4). 

The amino group in cyanamide is very reactive toward formaldehyde. The reaction produces first an unstable hydroxymethyl derivative that... 

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