Denki Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Itsuo Tabata

Seiichi Watanabe

Masayuki Shinoyama

Chloroprene is produced by a dehydrochlorination of 3,4-dichlorobutene-1 by contacting 3,4-dichlorobutene with a metal alkoxide of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. The reaction mixture in a form of a slurry obtained by the dehydrochlorination is distilled to separate lower boiling components comprising chloroprene and the unreacted 3,4-dichlorobutene-1 as main components from higher boiling components comprising tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol and a metal chloride as main components.

Process for producing chloroprene

An isomerization between 3,4-dichlorobutene-1 and 1,4-dichlorobutene-2 is carried out in the presence of a catalyst for isomerization as a combination of a copper compound and a dithiocarbamic acid derivative. The dithiocarbamic acid derivative is a compound having the formula ##STR1## wherein R and R' are the same and different and respectively represent a C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl group or an aryl group and M represents hydrogen atom or a metal atom or ammonium group and R' represents a C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group such as mercaptobenzothiazole.

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Ohmi, Japan

Itsuo Tabata