A New Sustainable Multistep Catalytic Process from Benzene to Caprolactam: Amination, Hydroximation and Beckmann Rearrangement Promoted and Catalyzed by Trifluoroacetic Acid

Here we report some results on a 3 steps benzene caprolactam process via amination, aniline Hydroxymation and Beckmann rearrangement. The amination proceeds with hydroxylamine trifluoroacetate, with 97% of conversion and selectivity of 90%, catalyzed by V compounds. We achieve 98% of conversion and 95% of selectivity in the hydroxymation of aniline in the presence of hydroxylamine trifluoroacetate, sulfonic resin and Pd/C. While in the absence of the resin, hydrogenation of hydroxylamine trifluoroacetate occurs readily to the ammonium salt. The reaction occurs likely by the exchanged hydroxylamine and the aniline reduction intermediate. The use of hydroxylamine trifluoroacetate, instead of the chloride, favors the sustainability of the process by avoiding the ammonium chloride formation. The absence of salt except those derived from the trifluoroacetic acid allows a complete reuse of the trifluoroacetic acid and the only byproduct is ammonium nitrate obtained by resin regeneration. Beckmann rearrangement of the so produced cyclohexanone oxime occurs easily after diethyl ether evaporation and additions of a solution trifluoroacetic acid acetonitrile in high yield and selectivity.

Graphical Abstract

New three steps caprolactam process via benzene amination and aniline hydrogenation.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10562-022-04207-9.

Mechanistic Insight Into the Application of Alumina-Supported Pd Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Nitrobenzene to Aniline

Two Pd/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts are examined for the vapor phase hydrogenation of nitrobenzene over the temperature range of 60–200 °C. A 1 wt % catalyst is selected as a reference material that is diluted with γ-alumina to produce a 0.3 wt % sample, which is representative of a metal loading linked to a candidate industrial specification aniline synthesis catalyst. Cyclohexanone oxime is identified as a by-product that is associated with reagent transformation. Temperature-programed infrared spectroscopy and temperature-programed desorption measurements of chemisorbed CO provide information on the morphology of the crystallites of the higher Pd loading catalyst. The lower Pd loading sample exhibits a higher aniline selectivity by virtue of minimization of product overhydrogenation. Reaction testing measurements that were undertaken employing elevated hydrogen flow rates lead to the proposition of separate reagent and product-derived by-product formation pathways, each of which occurs in a consecutive manner. A global reaction scheme is proposed that defines the by-product distribution accessible by the grades of catalyst examined. This information is helpful in defining product purification procedures that would be required in certain heat recovery scenarios connected with large-scale aniline production.

Direct cyclohexanone oxime synthesis via oxidation-oximization of cyclohexane with ammonium acetate

An unexpected cascade reaction for oxidation-oximization of cyclohexane with ammonium acetate was developed for the first time to access cyclohexanone oxime with 50.7% selectivity (13.6% conversion). Tetrahedral Ti sites in Ni-containing hollow titanium silicalite can serve as bifunctional catalytic centers in the reaction. This methodology not only provides a direct approach to prepare cyclohexanone oxime, but also simplifies process chemistry. Various available nitrogen sources, such as ammonium salt and even ammonia can be used as starting materials.

Site-specific catalytic activities to facilitate solvent-free aerobic oxidation of cyclohexylamine to cyclohexanone oxime over highly efficient Nb-modified SBA-15 catalysts

The development of highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysts for efficient oxidation of cyclohexylamine to cyclohexanone oxime is a challenge associated with the highly sensitive nitrogen center of cyclohexylamine.