Selective Hydration of Acrylonitrile on Supported Metal Catalysts

Abstract

The selective hydration of the C≡N bond of acrlylonitrile to form acrylamide was studied on various supported metal catalysts. Ethlyene cyanohydrin was also produced as a side product by the hydration of the C=C bond of acrylonitrile. The results of the reaction over supported Cu, Ni, Ag and Pd catalysts are shown in Table 1. Copper was found to be most effective for this reaction. Cu catalysts unsupported or supported on various oxides were tested (Table 2). The Cu catalysts supported on acidic materials (zeolite X, Y, SiO₂, celite, TiO₂)gave lower yield of acrylamide than the unsupported Cu catalyst, whereas those supported on basic materials (ZnO, MgO) showed higher activity. The highest yield of acrylamide was obtained by the Cu/MgO catalyst.