Other products from m-xylene

1 Ammoxidation reactor 2 Product separator 3 Hydrogenation reactor 4 Solvent recovery 5 Distillation column 6 NHs-recovery 

Chlorination of isophthalodinitrile leads to the fungicide tetrachloroisophthalo-dinitrile (chlorothalonil), developed by Diamond Shamrock. 

The high temperature sulfonation of m-xylene followed by alkali fusion yields 3,5-dimethylphenol, but this is no longer an economical process. 

The nitration of m-xylene produces a mixture of isomers of nitroxylene, which consists of 80 to 85% 2,4-dimethylnitrobenzene and 15 to 20% 2,6-dimethylnitro-benzene the proportion of 3,5-dimethylnitrobenzene is minor. Separation of this mixture of isomers is effected by distillation and melt crystallization. The corresponding xylidines are produced by reduction of the nitro compounds with Raney nickel. 

4-Xylidine is used in the preparation of N-acetoacetyl-2,4-xylidide (AAX), an intermediate in pigment manufacture it is accessible by the reaction of 2,4-xyli-dine with diketene. 

---