Catalysts, nickel

Insoluble in water, soluble in organic solvents b.p. — 15°C. Prepared by treating 1,4-dibromo-butane with metallic sodium. Reduced to n-butane by hydrogen at 200" C in presence of nickel catalysts. 

C, b.p. 81"C. Manufactured by the reduction of benzene with hydrogen in the presence of a nickel catalyst and recovered from natural gase.s. It is inflammable. Used as an intermediate in the preparation of nylon [6] and [66] via caprolactam and as a solvent for oils, fats and waxes, and also as a paint remover. For stereochemistry of cyclohexane see conformation. U.S. production 1980 1 megatonne. 

C. It occurs in natural gas. May prepared by reduction of ethene or ethyne by hydrogen under pressure in the presence of a nickel catalyst, or by the electrolysis of a solution of potassium elhanoate. It has the general properties of the paraffins. Used in low-temperature refrigeration plant. 

Piperitone is of considerable technical im portance. It is a colourless oil of a pleasant peppermint-like smell. (-)-Piperilone has b.p. 109-5-110-5 C/I5mm. Piperitone yields thymol on oxidation with FeCl. On reduction with hydrogen in presence of a nickel catalyst it yields menthone. On reduction with sodium in alcoholic solution all forms of piperitone yield racemic menthols and womenthols together with some racemic a-phel)andrene. 

Sorbitol is manufactured by the reduction of glucose in aqueous solution using hydrogen with a nickel catalyst. It is used in the manufacture of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), various surface active agents, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, dentifrices, adhesives, polyurethane foams, etc. 

The sample is reduced in a hydrogen stream at 800°C in the presence of a nickel catalyst. The ammonia formed is detected by coulometry and the test sensitivity is on the order of one part per million. 

Goodman D W, Kelley R D, Madey T E and Yates J T Jr 1980 Kinetics of the hydrogenation of CO over a single crystal nickel catalyst J. Catal. 63 226... 

This reaction is an undesirable side reaction in the manufacture of hydrogen but utilised as a means of removing traces of carbon monoxide left at the end of the second stage reaction. The gases are passed over a nickel catalyst at 450 K when traces of carbon monoxide form methane. (Methane does not poison the catalyst in the Haber process -carbon monoxide Joes.)... 

P-Phenylethylamine is conveniently prepared by the hydrogenation under pressure of benzyl cyanide with Raney nickel catalyst (see Section VI,5) in the presence of either a saturated solution of dry ammonia in anhydrous methyl alcohol or of liquid ammonia the latter are added to suppress the formation of the secondary amine, di- P phenylethylamine ... 

An example of the application of the Raney nickel catalyst is given in Section IV,35 (p-phenylethylamine from benzyl cyanide). 

Nitro groups are efficiently reduced with hydrogen over Raney nickel catalyst (I. Fel-ner, 1967), with hydrides, or with metals. 

Alkenes react with hydrogen in the presence of a platinum palladium rhodium or nickel catalyst to form the corresponding alkane... 

Nickel catalysts although less expensive than rhodium and platinum are also less active Hydrogenation of arenes m the presence of nickel requires high temperatures (100-200°C) and pressures (100 atm)... 

Sorbitol is a sweetener often substituted for cane sugar because it is better tolerated by dia betics It IS also an intermediate in the commercial synthesis of vitamin C Sorbitol is prepared by high pressure hydrogenation of glucose over a nickel catalyst What is the structure (including stereochemistry) of sorbitoP... 

When levuhnic acid (CH3CCH2CH2CO2H) was hydrogenated at high pressure over a nickel catalyst at 220°C a single product C5Hg02 was isolated in 94% yield This compound lacks hydroxyl absorption in its IR spectrum and does not immediately liberate carbon dioxide on being shaken with sodium bicarbonate What is a reasonable structure for the compound" ... 

Catalytic hydrogenation of furan to tetrahydrofuran is accompHshed in either Hquid or vapor phase. Hydrogenation of the double bonds is essentially quantitative over nickel catalysts but is generally accompanied by hydrogenolysis over the noble metals. 

Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol reacts with ammonia to give a variety of nitrogen containing compounds depending on the conditions employed. Over a barium hydroxide-promoted skeletal nickel—aluminum catalyst, 2-tetrahydrofurfur5iarnine [4795-29-3] is produced (113—115). With paHadium on alumina catalyst in the vapor phase (250—300°C), pyridine [110-86-1] is the principal product (116—117) pyridine also is formed using Zn and Cr based catalysts (118,119). At low pressure and 200°C over a reduced nickel catalyst, piperidine is obtained in good yield (120,121). 

The first process utilizes a bed of nickel catalyst which has been regenerated with hydrogen to reduce the nickel content to metallic form. The finely divided metal then reacts with impurities and retains them in the bed, probably as nickel oxide in the case of oxygen or as physisorbed compounds for other impurities. Periodically, the bed is regenerated at elevated temperature using hydrogen to restore the metallic content. The nickel process can be used and regenerated indefinitely. 

The first HCN addition (eq. 3) occurs at practical rates above 70°C under sufficient pressure to keep butadiene condensed in solution and produces the 1,4- and 1,2-addition products (3-pentenenitrile [4635-87-4] 3PN, and 2-meth5i-3-butenenitrile [16529-56-9] 2M3BN) in a 2 to 1 ratio. Fortunately, thermodynamics favors 3PN (about 20 1) and 2M3BN may be isomerized to 3PN (eq. 4) in the presence of a nickel catalyst. 

The selective addition of the second HCN to provide ADN requires the concurrent isomerisation of 3PN to 4-pentenenitrile [592-51 -8] 4PN (eq. 5), and HCN addition to 4PN (eq. 6). A Lewis acid promoter is added to control selectivity and increase rate in these latter steps. Temperatures in the second addition are significandy lower and practical rates may be achieved above 20°C at atmospheric pressure. A key to the success of this homogeneous catalytic process is the abiUty to recover the nickel catalyst from product mixture by extraction with a hydrocarbon solvent. 2-Methylglutaronitrile [4553-62-2] MGN, ethylsuccinonitfile [17611-82-4] ESN, and 2-pentenenitrile [25899-50-7] 2PN, are by-products of this process and are separated from adiponitrile by distillation. 

Recent patent activity suggests that DuPont is developing a new generation of chelating diphosphite—nickel catalysts for this technology which are significantly more active than the monodentate phosphite based catalyst system used for the last two decades (61—64). 

Reduction. Acetaldehyde is readily reduced to ethanol (qv). Suitable catalysts for vapor-phase hydrogenation of acetaldehyde are supported nickel (42) and copper oxide (43). The kinetics of the hydrogenation of acetaldehyde over a commercial nickel catalyst have been studied (44). 

Reactions with Ammonia and Amines. Acetaldehyde readily adds ammonia to form acetaldehyde—ammonia. Diethyl amine [109-87-7] is obtained when acetaldehyde is added to a saturated aqueous or alcohoHc solution of ammonia and the mixture is heated to 50—75°C in the presence of a nickel catalyst and hydrogen at 1.2 MPa (12 atm). Pyridine [110-86-1] and pyridine derivatives are made from paraldehyde and aqueous ammonia in the presence of a catalyst at elevated temperatures (62) acetaldehyde may also be used but the yields of pyridine are generally lower than when paraldehyde is the starting material. The vapor-phase reaction of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and ammonia at 360°C over oxide catalyst was studied a 49% yield of pyridine and picolines was obtained using an activated siHca—alumina catalyst (63). Brown polymers result when acetaldehyde reacts with ammonia or amines at a pH of 6—7 and temperature of 3—25°C (64). Primary amines and acetaldehyde condense to give Schiff bases CH2CH=NR. The Schiff base reverts to the starting materials in the presence of acids. 

Reppe s work also resulted in the high pressure route which was estabUshed by BASF at Ludwigshafen in 1956. In this process, acetylene, carbon monoxide, water, and a nickel catalyst react at about 200°C and 13.9 MPa (2016 psi) to give acryUc acid. Safety problems caused by handling of acetylene are alleviated by the use of tetrahydrofuran as an inert solvent. In this process, the catalyst is a mixture of nickel bromide with a cupric bromide promotor. The hquid reactor effluent is degassed and extracted. The acryUc acid is obtained by distillation of the extract and subsequendy esterified to the desked acryhc ester. The BASF process gives acryhc acid, whereas the Rohm and Haas process provides the esters dkecdy. 

Reduction. Hydrogenation of dimethyl adipate over Raney-promoted copper chromite at 200°C and 10 MPa produces 1,6-hexanediol [629-11-8], an important chemical intermediate (32). Promoted cobalt catalysts (33) and nickel catalysts (34) are examples of other patented processes for this reaction. An eadier process, which is no longer in use, for the manufacture of the 1,6-hexanediamine from adipic acid involved hydrogenation of the acid (as its ester) to the diol, followed by ammonolysis to the diamine (35). 

If first-order kinetics are assumed, k /is the linoleic selectivity ratio and k l is the selectivity ratio for reduction of linoleic acid to stearic acid. Figure 2 shows a typical course of hydrogenation for soybean oil the rate constants are = 0.367, = 0.159, and k = 0.013. With a selective nickel catalyst,... 

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