1974 年 17 巻 4 号 p. 304-308
In order to clarify the profile of vapour phase catalytic ammoxidation reaction with SO2 as an oxidizing agent, the reactions of various substituted aromatic compounds i.e. methylnaphthalene, ethylbenzene, cumene, styrene, benzaldehyde, n-heptane and methylcyclohexane were investigated.
It was found that the reaction of methylnaphthalene gave the corresponding naphthonitrile, while the reaction of ethylbenzene and cumene gave benzonitrile and styrene, benzonitrile, α-methylstyrene and a small quantity of α-phenylacrylonitrile, respectively. The reaction of methylcyclohexane gave benzonitrile and toluene. Also n-heptane was converted to benzonitrile and toluene more slowly than methylcyclohexane. Benzaldehyde was readily converted to benzonitrile even over fused alumina (Alundum: α-Al2O3) alone. The reactivity of these compounds decreased with increasing size of substituent group.
Addition of K2CO3 to catalyst supressed the activity for formation of nitrile, but little for dehydrogenation reaction. The dehydrogenation reactions were promoted even by the fused alumina catalyst (Alundum: α-Al2O3) alone.
Therefore, it was assumed that the dehydrogenation took place prior to formation of nitrile under the conditions of ammoxidation reaction.