Reaction of Methanol with Nitriles, Ketones, and Esters

3 Reaction of Methanol with Nitriles, Ketones, and Esters 

Reactions of methanol with nitriles, ketones and esters to yield or,/5-unsaturated compounds were found by Ueda etal. These reactions proceed by the catalysts possessing both acidic and basic functions. The general formula of the reactions is 

To complete the above reaction, dehydration, dehydrogenation, and cross-coupling must occur successively. Catalysts active for these reactions are MgO doped with 2 — 15% transition metal ions. 

Acetonitrile reacts with methanol to yield acrylonitrile, propionitrile resulting from 

The activities and selectivities of MgO doped with several transition metal ions are given in Table 4.35. Among the catalysts examined, MgO doped with Cr(III) shows the highest selectivity. 

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