Nitriles, catalytic hydrogenation hydrolysis

Adiponitrile undergoes the typical nitrile reactions, eg, hydrolysis to adipamide and adipic acid and alcoholysis to substituted amides and esters. The most important industrial reaction is the catalytic hydrogenation to hexamethylenediarnine. A variety of catalysts are used for this reduction including cobalt—nickel (46), cobalt manganese (47), cobalt boride (48), copper cobalt (49), and iron oxide (50), and Raney nickel (51). An extensive review on the hydrogenation of nitriles has been recendy pubUshed (10). 

Cycloadditions of in situ generated nitrile oxides 28 with alkynols 27 provided isoxazolylalcohols 29 directly. Their catalytic hydrogenation under mild conditions, followed by acidic hydrolysis, afforded 3(2//)-furanones 30, through p-aminoenone cyclization <0315215>. 

A few 6- and 8-cyanopurines have been prepared and undergo characteristic nitrile addition reactions rather readily. Thus, alkaline hydrolysis produces carboxamides, then carboxylic acids, alcoholysis leads to imidates, ammonolysis to amidines, hydrazinolysis to amidhydrazines, hydroxylamine to amidoximes, and hydrogen sulfide to thioamides. Acid hydrolysis tends to give the decarboxylated acid derivative. Reduction either by sodium-ethanol or, preferably, by catalytic hydrogenation affords aminoalkylpurines and addition of Grignard reagents produces, in the first place, acylpurines. As with aldehydes, most of the compounds examined have been relatively non-polar derivatives. Table 28 lists some reactions and relevant literature. 

Formation of an aldimine intermediate is the first step in the catalytic hydrogenation of nitriles. When hydrogenation is carried out in aqueous acidic media, aldehydes may form by hydrolysis of the aldimine. Selective hydrogenation of aromatic nitriles to ben-zaldehydes over finely divided Ni (Raney Ni) is best obtained with an equimolecular amount of H2SO4 in a 10 1 mixture of tetrahydrofuran-water ... 

Homogeneous catalysts using Mo or W as catalyst precursors have been developed for hydrogenation of ketones, hydrosilylation of ketones, hydrolysis reactions, and hydration of nitriles. The hydrogenation catalysts were designed following reactivity studies in which the steps of the catalytic cycle were estabhshed under stoichiometric conditions. These studies have expanded our understanding of the fundamental reaction pathways that can be elicited from new reactions of cheap metals, and point the way for further development of new classes of catalysts. 

An alternative preparation of a nitrile is illustrated by the reaction of the half-ester of 2,2-diethyl malonate 1.51) ivith SOCI2 and then NH3 to give the amide. Subsequent heating with phosphorus pentoxide led to dehydration and gave nitrile 1.52 Catalytic hydrogenation reduced the nitrile to an aminomethyl group, and acid hydrolysis gave 2,2-diethyl-3-aminopropanoic acid 1.53). 2-Ethyl-2-cyclohexyl-3-aminopropanoic acid and 2-ethyl-2-benzyl-3-aminopropanoic acid were also prepared by this method.30... 

Nitrile enolates can also react with carbonyl derivatives such as oxalate, which serves as a carboxyl surrogate. Reaction of 2-phenylacetonitrile and diethyl oxalate, in the presence of sodium amide, gave 4.99. " Catalytic hydrogenation of the cyano group and hydrolysis led to ethyl 2-phenyl-3-aminopropanoate, 4.100. In this case also, the nitrile moiety was an amine surrogate. Other a-aryl acetonitrile derivatives... 

In another procedure, acrylnitrile and ethanal react to yield cyanobutyraldehyde which is then transformed by a Bucherer reaction into cyanopropylhydantoin. Catalytic hydrogenation of the nitrile group, followed by alkaline hydrolysis yields D,L-lysine. 

A thioamide of isonicotinic acid has also shown tuberculostatic activity in the clinic. The additional substitution on the pyridine ring precludes its preparation from simple starting materials. Reaction of ethyl methyl ketone with ethyl oxalate leads to the ester-diketone, 12 (shown as its enol). Condensation of this with cyanoacetamide gives the substituted pyridone, 13, which contains both the ethyl and carboxyl groups in the desired position. The nitrile group is then excised by means of decarboxylative hydrolysis. Treatment of the pyridone (14) with phosphorus oxychloride converts that compound (after exposure to ethanol to take the acid chloride to the ester) to the chloro-pyridine, 15. The halogen is then removed by catalytic reduction (16). The ester at the 4 position is converted to the desired functionality by successive conversion to the amide (17), dehydration to the nitrile (18), and finally addition of hydrogen sulfide. There is thus obtained ethionamide (19)... 

A very efficient and universal method has been developed for the production of optically pue L- and D-amino adds. The prindple is based on the enantioselective hydrolysis of D,L-amino add amides. The stable D,L-amino add amides are effidently prepared under mild reaction conditions starting from simple raw materials (Figure A8.2). Thus reaction of an aldehyde with hydrogen cyanide in ammonia (Strecker reaction) gives rise to the formation of the amino nitrile. The aminonitrile is converted in a high yield to the D,L-amino add amide under alkaline conditions in the presence of a catalytic amount of acetone. The resolution step is accomplished with permeabilised whole cells of Pseudomonas putida ATCC 12633. A nearly 100% stereoselectivity in hydrolysing only the L-amino add amide is combined with a very broad substrate spedfidty. 

The above hydrochloride is treated with thionyl chloride in liquid sulfur dioxide, to produce an amorphous chloride hydro chloride, which is converted to the nitrile with sodium cyanide in liquid hydrogen cyanide, Methanolysis then gives the ester of the nitrile. Alkaline hydrolysis of this last compound, followed by catalytic dehydrogenation in water using a deactivated Raney Nickle catalyst (see JOC, 13, 455 1948) gives dl-lysergic acid. 

Ring fused products can be elaborated from isoxazolines (80S757). Several nitrocyclo-alkenes (516) were prepared and reacted with phenyl isocyanate to generate the intermediate nitrile oxides which underwent internal cycloaddition to afford the tricyclic isoxazolines (517). Cleavage of the N—O bond by hydrogenation in the presence of a catalytic amount of Raney nickel and subsequent hydrolysis afforded the /3-ketol (518 Scheme 113). 

The Strecker amino acid synthesis, which involves treatment of aldehydes with ammonia and hydrogen cyanide (or equivalents) followed by hydrolysis of the intermediate a-amino nitriles to provide a-amino acids (Scheme 1), was first reported in 1850 [1], This method has been applied on an industrial scale toward the synthesis of racemic a-amino acids, but more recently interest in nonproteinogenic a-amino acids in a variety of scientific disciplines has prompted intense activity in the asymmetric syntheses of a-amino acids [2]. The catalytic asymmetric Strecker-type reaction offers one of the most direct and viable methods for the asymmetric synthesis of a-amino acid derivatives. It is the purpose of this Highlight to disclose recent developments in this emerging field of importance. 

A related reaction involves a-substituted aryl nitriles having a sufficiently acidic a hydrogen, which can be converted to ketones by oxidation with air under phase transfer conditions. The nitrile is added to NaOH in benzene or DMSO containing a catalytic amount of triethylbenzylammonium chloride (TEBA). " This reaction could not be applied to aliphatic nitriles, but an indirect method for achieving this conversion is given in 19-60. a-Dialkylamino nitriles can be converted to ketones, R2C(NMe2)CN —> R2C=0, by hydrolysis with Q1SO4 in aqueous methanol or by autoxidation in the presence of r-BuOK. ... 

Raney copper is prepared from the commercially available copper aluminum alloy. It does not have much to offer the synthetic chemist as only a few reactions are reported to be affected by this catalyst. Raney copper, as well as Raney cobalt, generally produces fewer side reactions than Raney nickel even though they usually require higher reaction temperatures for the same reaction. Raney copper is, however, quite usefiil for the selective hydrogenation of substituted dinitro benzenes (Eqn. 8.6) with its activity apparently increasing with continued reuse. Raney copper can also be used for the catalytic hydrolysis of hindered nitriles to the amides (Eqn. 12.13). "2... 

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