Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft

Kurt Sennewald

Wilhelm Vogt

Hubert Neumaier

Gunther Lenz

Richard Schuller

Production of nitrilotriacetonitrile by reacting a salt of ammonia and a non-oxidizing acids with formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide in an aqueous acid phase, at elevated temperature, completing the reaction and separating the reaction mixture into firstly crystalline nitrilotriacetonitrile and secondly an aqueous acid phase as the mother liquor. More particularly, a product obtained by primary reaction of an aqueous ammonium salt solution with an aqueous formaldehyde solution, the ammonium salt and formaldehyde being used in a ratio larger than 1:6, is reacted with a stoichiometric proportion of an aqueous hydrogen cyanide solution, the said stoichiometric proportion being based on the formaldehyde concentration of the primary reaction product.

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Hermulheim, Germany

Kurt Sennewald