Nitrile hydrogenation mechanism

Abb. 7.14. Imidic acid ester hydrochlorides (F)—to be prepared from nitriles, hydrogen chloride (gas) and methanol acc. to Fig. 7.13—, their trans-formability into orthoester (A) or amidine (I) and the corresponding reaction mechanisms. 

The first question in considering the mechanism of nitrile hydrogenation is the mode of adsorption on the catalyst surface. Two adsorption modes are envisaged, corresponding to the end-on (ct, or and side-on (71- or Figure 10) modes of coordination of a nitrile to a metal that have been demonstrated in coordination and organometallic compounds. Each adsorption model leads to... 

Similar mechanisms are postulated for commercial alkene/arene, carbonyl and nitrile hydrogenations on metal surfaces in particular, individual metal atoms are involved. In contrast hydrogenolysis, the cleavage of C—C or C—O (N, S, etc.) bonds, appears to need two or more adjacent sites and can sometimes be reduced by alloying the main component (addition of copper to nickel, for example). The stability of supported metal (especially platinum) catalysts permits their use at high temperatures, to promote hydrogen transfers between alkanes, alkenes and arenes or dehydrogenation processes. 

Method(B). Add3g. (3ml.)ofbenzonitrileto50ml.of lo-volumes hydrogen peroxide in a beaker, stir mechanically and add i ml. of 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. Warm the stirred mixture at 40° until the oily suspension of the nitrile has been completely replaced by the crystalline benzamide (45-60 minutes). Cool the solution until crystallisation of the benzamide is complete, and then filter at the pump and recrystallise as above. One recrystallisation gives the pure benza-mide, m.p. 129-130° yield of purified material, 2-2-5 S ... 

As a class of compounds, the two main toxicity concerns for nitriles are acute lethality and osteolathyrsm. A comprehensive review of the toxicity of nitriles, including detailed discussion of biochemical mechanisms of toxicity and stmcture-activity relationships, is available (12). Nitriles vary broadly in their abiUty to cause acute lethaUty and subde differences in stmcture can greatly affect toxic potency. The biochemical basis of their acute toxicity is related to their metaboHsm in the body. Following exposure and absorption, nitriles are metabolized by cytochrome p450 enzymes in the Hver. The metaboHsm involves initial hydrogen abstraction resulting in the formation of a carbon radical, followed by hydroxylation of the carbon radical. MetaboHsm at the carbon atom adjacent (alpha) to the cyano group would yield a cyanohydrin metaboHte, which decomposes readily in the body to produce cyanide. Hydroxylation at other carbon positions in the nitrile does not result in cyanide release. 

The evidence obtained clearly indicates that the above photorearrangements proceed by a mechanism involving a nitrile ylide intermediate since cycloadducts could be isolated when the irradiations were carried out in the presence of trapping agents. Intramolecular cycloaddition of the nitrile ylide followed by a 1,3-sigmatropic hydrogen shift of the initially formed five-membered ring readily accounts for the formation of the final product. 

It was found inadvisable to use more than four molecules of form-amide [ (47) when R = H] per molecule of anthranilic acid and the condensation produces best results when the mixture is heated at 120 -130°C for 2 hr followed by further heating at 170°-180 C for 2 hr. Other variants of this reaction involve the use of ammonium o-acylaminobenzoates, anthranilic acid in the presence of nitriles and acetic anhydride, o-acetamidonitrile with acetic anhydride or hydrogen peroxide, anthranilic esters and aliphatic or aromatic amides or amidines, isatoic anhydride with amides or amidines, and anthranilic esters with aryl iminochlorides in acetoned The mechanism proposed by Bogert and Gotthelf has had experimental supporR and is represented in Scheme 12. 

A milder procedure involves the reaction of a nitrile with an alkaline solution of hydrogen peroxide.147 The strongly nucleophilic hydrogen peroxide adds to the nitrile and the resulting adduct gives the amide. There are several possible mechanisms for the subsequent decomposition of the peroxycarboximidic adduct.148... 

Carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and nitriles also react with aromatic compounds in the presence of strong acids or Friedel-Crafts catalysts to introduce formyl or acyl substituents. The active electrophiles are believed to be dications resulting from diprotonation of CO, HCN, or the nitrile.64 The general outlines of the mechanisms of these reactions are given below. 

A process that is effective for epoxidation and avoids acidic conditions involves reaction of an alkene, a nitrile, and hydrogen peroxide.82 The nitrile and hydrogen peroxide react, forming a peroxyimidic acid, which epoxidizes the alkene, by a mechanism similar to that for peroxyacids. An important contribution to the reactivity of the peroxyimidic acid comes from the formation of the stable amide carbonyl group. 

The hydrogenation of unsaturated polymers and copolymers in the presence of a catalyst offers a potentially useful method for improving and optimizing the mechanical and chemical resistance properties of diene type polymers and copolymers. Several studies have been published describing results of physical and chemical testing of saturated diene polymers such as polybutadiene and nitrile-butadiene rubber (1-5). These reports indicate that one of the ways to overcome the weaknesses of diene polymers, especially nitrile-butadiene rubber vulcanizate, is by the hydrogenation of carbon-carbon double bonds without the transformation of other functional unsaturation such as nitrile or styrene. 

The functional form of this rate expression is consistent with the behavior of the iridium system observed throughout the kinetic investigations. The coordination of nitrile to iridium is anticipated to produce more than a simple inhibitory effect. Being the dominant equilibrium in the mechanism, nitrile coordination may produce the observed first order dependence of the reaction rate with respect to hydrogen. Given Kcn[RCN] is the predominant term in the denominator, the rate expression may be reduced to the form of (8) which is first order with respect to both olefin and [H2]. 

Kinetic results show that the hydrogenation reaction rate exhibits a first-order dependence on both hydrogen concentration, [H2], and the total ruthenium concentration, [Ru]t and an inverse dependence on the nitrile concentration, [CN]. The catalytic mechanism proposed for polymer hydrogenation is illustrated in Scheme 19.5 and the main points of the mechanism are outlined below ... 

Scheme 19.5 Mechanism of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) hydrogenation catalyzed by Ru(CH=CH(Ph))CI(CO)(PCy3)2.

In all the mechanisms, the hydrogen peroxide is converted to oxygen and water, leaving the organic substrate hydrolyzed, but at the same oxidation level. Scheme 3.6 (Entries 9 and 10) includes two specific examples of conversion of nitriles to amides. 

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