Cyclohexane direct oxidation

This reactor is typical of those used in a range of processes involving the direct oxidation of hydrocarbons with air or oxygen. Another example is the oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid which... 

To test the generality of this reaction, the indole systems 70a,b were prepared from hexahydro-8-oxopyrrolo[ 1,2-a]indole 67 and tetrahydro-4-oxindole 68 (Scheme 11). These compounds in turn were readily obtained from cyclohexane-1,3-one and the appropriate amino acid salt according to Franck s pyrrole acylation protocol.53 Attempts to directly oxidize 67 or 68 to the hydroxyindole oxidation state using DDQ met with failure despite numerous attempts involving variation in solvent and reaction temperature. To circumvent this limitation, it was reasoned that... 

Recently, a ruthenium-catalysed oxidation in water was published by d Alessandro et al. [34]. Water can be regarded as an environmentally friendly solvent which, because it is inert, reduces the risk of explosions. The oxidation of cyclohexane directly to adipic acid was performed using ruthenium catalysts bearing water-soluble phthalocyanine ligands RuPcS (where PcS is tetra-sodium 2,3-tetrasulfophthalocyaninato) with KHSOs (Eq. 4). However we note that very low TONs were observed and the use of KHSOs as a primary oxidant is not viable for industrial-scale oxidations. 

Two important commercial diacids are adipic acid (hexanedioic acid) and tere-phthalic acid (benzene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid). Adipic acid is used in making nylon 66, and terephthalic acid is used to make polyesters. The industrial synthesis of adipic acid uses benzene as the starting material. Benzene is hydrogenated to cyclohexane, whose oxidation (using a cobalt/acetic acid catalyst) gives adipic acid. Terephthalic acid is produced by the direct oxidation of para-xylene in acetic acid using a cobalt-molybdenum catalyst. 

Compared to the traditional technology, the direct oxidation of cyclohexane with air or oxygen, also called the One Step AA process, should lower the total investment cost. This is due to the following differences ... 

To date, it seems that the most sustainable approach is the one that combines the use of cheap raw materials, for example, cyclohexane, benzene or phenol, with oxygen as the terminal oxidant. Within this context, a process that does not use acetic acid in the aerial oxidation of the KA Oil into AA or, even better, in the direct oxidation of cyclohexane to AA would represent a significant step forward towards a new and sustainable synthesis. On the other hand, recent examples demonstrate that even the traditional process making use of nitric acid for the oxidation of KA Oil may be turned into an intrinsically green one that is economically sustainable due to the use of the co-produced N2O in down-stream applications. 

There are several possible explanations which need to be considered for the formation of N2 in the photolysis of cyclohexane-nitrous oxide solutions. These include direct absorption of vacuum ultraviolet light by nitrous oxide, photoionization of the solvent followed by electron attachment by nitrous oxide, and reaction of nitrous oxide with either excited cyclohexene or excited cyclohexane molecules. Of these possibilities only the last explanation—reaction of excited cyclohexane molecules with nitrous oxide—is important. 

Direct oxidation, similarly to the first step of cyclohexane oxidation above, is a useful reaction for selective oxidation of simple alkanes relatively high concentrations of cobalt(II) acetate are... 

It may be noted that although the oxidation of cyclohexane constitutes a satisfactory commercial operation, the direct oxidation of benzene to phenol does not. The direct route has been extensively investigated but yields have been too low to warrant commercial development. 

Hessel et al. described a full process design vision for the manufacturing of adipic acid on an industrial scale [66,67]. Currently, commercial production of adipic acid comprises two reaction steps. The first step involves the selective oxidation of cyclohexane to KA oil, a mixture of cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol. The second step consists of oxidation of the KA oil to adipic acid with an excess of nitric acid in the presence of copper or vanadium catalysts. In contrast, Hessel et al. suggest that a new and direct route toward adipic add based on the direct oxidation of cyclohexene with hydrogen peroxide would be much more cost effective. This process is based on the protocol described by Noyori and coworkers and utilizes a... 

The first reaction, conversion of ethylene to acetaldehyde, involves organometallic and redox chemistry of palladium. Oxidation of cyclohexane and /7-xylene by air, on the other hand, is a chain reaction of organic radicals. In these reactions, soluble cobalt and manganese compounds catalyze the initiation steps. Reactions such as these, where the organic substrates are directly oxidized by air or dioxygen, are often called auto-oxidation reactions. 

Other processes explored, but not commercialized, include the direct nitric acid oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid (140—143), carbonylation of 1,4-butanediol [110-63-4] (144), and oxidation of cyclohexane with ozone [10028-15-5] (145—148) or hydrogen peroxide [7722-84-1] (149—150). Production of adipic acid as a by-product of biological reactions has been explored in recent years (151—156). 

Toray. The photonitrosation of cyclohexane or PNC process results in the direct conversion of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone oxime hydrochloride by reaction with nitrosyl chloride in the presence of uv light (15) (see Photochemical technology). Beckmann rearrangement of the cyclohexanone oxime hydrochloride in oleum results in the evolution of HCl, which is recycled to form NOCl by reaction with nitrosylsulfuric acid. The latter is produced by conventional absorption of NO from ammonia oxidation in oleum. Neutralization of the rearrangement mass with ammonia yields 1.7 kg ammonium sulfate per kilogram of caprolactam. Purification is by vacuum distillation. The novel chemistry is as follows ... 

Kumar, R., Sithambaram, S. and Suib,S.L. (2009) Cyclohexane oxidation catalyzed by manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieves - effect of acidity of the catalyst. Journal of Catalysis, 262,304—313. Sithambaram, S., Kumar, R., Son, Y. and Suib, S.L. (2008) Tandem catalysis direct catalytic synthesis of imines from alcohols using manganese octahedral molecular sieves. Journal of Catalysis, 253, 269-277. 

Nitration of ketones or enol ethers provides a useful method for the preparation of a-nitro ketones. Direct nitration of ketones with HN03 suffers from the formation of a variety of oxidative by-products. Alternatively, the conversion of ketones into their enolates, enol acetates, or enol ethers, followed by nitration with conventional nitrating agents such as acyl nitrates, gives a-nitro ketones (see Ref. 79, a 1980 review). The nitration of enol acetates of alkylated cyclohexanones with concentrated nitric acid in acetic anhydride at 15-22 °C leads to mixtures of cis- and rrans-substituted 2-nitrocyclohexanones in 75-92% yield. 4-Monoalkylated acetoxy-cyclohexanes give mainly m-compounds, and 3-monoalkylated ones yield fra/w-compounds (Eq. 2.40).80... 

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