Efficient Hydration of Nitriles to Amides in Water, Catalyzed by Ruthenium Hydroxide Supported on Alumina

摘要

Hydration of nitriles to the corresponding amides is an important reaction in academia and industry because of their usefulness in a wide variety of applications such as intermediates in organic syntheses and as raw materials for engineering plastics, detergents, and lubricants. For example, hydration of acrylonitrile produces annually more than 2 * 10~5 tons of acrylamide and is the most important technology for the production of this chemical. Homogeneous hydration of nitriles is traditionally carried out with acids and bases such as H_2SO_4 and NaOH.