GB1168958A - Improvement in the preparation of Aliphatic Dinitriles - Google Patents

Abstract

1,168,958. Dimerization of acrylonitrile. RHONE-POULENCE S.A. 21 June, 1968 [22 June, 1967], No. 29782/68. Heading C2C. [Also in Division C1] 1 ,4-Dicyanobutenes and/or adiponitrile are obtained by heating acrylonitrile at a temperature of from 50‹ to 150‹ C. under a hydrogen pressure of 1 to 50 bars in the presence of, as catalyst, an inorganic or organic derivative of ruthenium, and, as an activator for the said catalyst, a free metal of Group VIII of the Periodic Table or an oxide or hydroxide of such a metal. The reaction is optionally effected in the presence of an inert diluent, and the nature of the products formed may be controlled by varying the reaction conditions. The quantity of metal introduced by the activator, which may be supported, is preferably at most equal to the quantity of metal introduced by the catalyst; examples of oxides or hydroxides of the Group VIII metals are Ru(OH) 3 , RuO(OH) 2 and RuO 2 . The catalysts, which may be employed in the solid state, in finely-divided form, in suspension or in solution, may be derivatives of ruthenium such as the halides, thiocyanates, salts of oxygen-containing inorganic acids, salts of organic carboxylic acids, alcoholates, phenates, nitrosylated or aminated derivatives of ruthenium, chelates and complexes with electron donors, many of which are specified.