Basf Aktiengesellschaft

Hans-Martin Hutmacher

Franz Merger

Rolf Hartmuth Fischer

Uwe Vagt

Claus-Ulrich Priester

Wolfgang Harder

Franz J Broecker

Heinz-Walter Schneider

Wolfgang Richter

Helmut Hagen

Gerhard Nestler

Toni Dockner

Friedrich Towae

Dieter Voges

Wolfgang Schwarz

Manfred Sauerwald

Rudolf Mueller-Mall

Peter Hettinger

Wolfgang Lengsfeld

Maria G Szucsanyi

Preparation of 6-aminocaproic acid

Acrylates or methacrylates I ##STR1## (A and B=C.sub.2 -C.sub.5 -alkylene, R.sup.1 =H, CH.sub.3) are prepared by reacting an acrylate or methacrylate II ##STR2## (R.sup.2 =C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 -alkyl) with a heterocycle III ##STR3## in the presence of titanium alcoholates chelate compounds of the metals titanium, zirconium, iron and zinc with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds.

Preparation of acrylates and methacrylates

In an improved process for preparing caprolactam by heating 6-aminocaproic acid, an ester or amide or mixture thereof in the presence of an inert reaction medium which is liquid under the reaction conditions and has a boiling point above that of caprolactam, the improvement comprises using as the reaction medium a hydrocarbon, maintaining a temperature of from 150.degree. to 350.degree. C., charging the 6-aminocaproic acid, ester, amide or mixture thereof at a rate commensurate with their rate of conversion, and separating caprolactam from the reaction mixture at a rate commensurate with its rate of formation.

Preparation of caprolactam from 6-aminocaproic acid, esters and amides

In an improved process for the preparation of 6-aminocaproates by reacting a 5-formylvalerate with ammonia and hydrogen using an alkanol as a solvent in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst at elevated temperatures and under superatmospheric pressure, the improvement comprises carrying out the reaction at from 40.degree. to 95.degree. C.

Preparation of 6-aminocaproates

Caprolactam is prepared by a process in which

Preparation of epsilon-caprolactam

Preparation of .epsilon.-caprolactams

.epsilon.-caprolactam is prepared by a process in which

Preparation of caprolactam

Joint preparation of ethylene cyanohydrin and its ethers

1-Alkenyl isocyanates are prepared by reacting aldehydes with carbamates to give N-(1-alkenyl)-carbamates and splitting these compounds at elevated temperatures. The 1,2-unsaturated isocyanates obtained are valuable starting materials for the preparation of pest control agents, dyes, drugs, textile water repellents, detergents, plastics, bleaches and adhesives, since they possess an activated double bond or an activated .alpha.-carbon atom, in addition to a reactive isocyanate group.

Preparation of 1-alkenyl isocyanates

.alpha.,.beta.-Unsaturated nitriles are prepared by reacting an aldehyde with formamide in the presence of an acid and the presence or absence of a non-aromatic solvent to give an N-alkenyl-formamide, which is then passed, in the gas phase, over a dehydration catalyst at an elevated temperature. The nitriles obtainable by the process of the invention are valuable starting materials for the preparation of dyes, crop protection agents, plasticizers and drugs.

Preparation of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated nitriles

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Ludwigshafen, Germany

Hans-Martin Hutmacher