Huls America Inc.

Creanova, Inc.

Thomas V John

Chitoor S Subramaniam

David Colvin

George W Bitler

Gerald L Larson

Zheng Wang

Gerald Louis Larson

Ram R Chawla

Mark Whipkey

Richard J Kucera, Jr

Higher alkyl esters of cyanoacetic acid

The present invention relates to a general synthesis for producing secondaryalkoxy-1-alkenes in commercial quantities in good yields by reacting cyclic and acyclic ketones and the corresponding alcohol with a secondary alkyl orthoformate ester in the presence of an acid catalyst, a Lewis acid, ferric chloride being preferred, and recovering the produce as a liquid of high purity.

Production of secondaryalkoxy-1-alkenes

Alkyl, aralkyl or aryl cyanoformate esters having from one to 20 carbon atoms are prepared by anhydrously reacting stoichiometric amounts of the corresponding alkyl, aralkyl or aryl haloformate and an organosilyl nitrile in the presence of a catalytic amount of a tertiary amine base, preferably 1,4-diazabicyclo�2.2.2!octane, in the absence or presence of an inert solvent. The reaction is conducted at a temperature of from about -30.degree. C. to 70.degree. C., preferably at from about 5.degree. C. to 30.degree. C.

Process for producing cyanoformate esters

Ortho esters of the structure ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are different or the same alkyl moieties and can be a saturated, unsaturated, branched, unbranched or cyclic alkyl moiety of 1-3 carbon atoms, are prepared by first anhydrously reacting hydrogen cyanide or a hydrogen cyanide derivative with a secondary alkanol and hydrogen chloride in the presence of an inert organic solvent. Upon the formation of the resulting imino ether hydrochloride, more secondary alkanol is added to form the ortho esters (I). 1,1-Dialkoxycycloalkanes of the structure ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 correspond to R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 of structure (I), and n is an integer from 4 to 9, are prepared by reacting with the imino ether hydrochloride more secondary alkanol and a cycloalkanone having 5 to 10 carbon atoms.

Method of preparing 1.1-dialkoxycycloalkanes

Method of preparing ortho esters and 1.1-dialkoxycycloalkanes

Trialkylsilyl nitrile is prepared by anhydrously reacting stoichiometric amounts of trialkylsilyl halide, hexaalkyldisilazane or trialkylsilyl amine, and hydrogen cyanide, in the absence or presence of a solvent or inert gas atmosphere. No catalyst is necessary, and the reaction preferably is performed at a temperature of from 5.degree. C. to 25.degree. C.

Preparation of trialkylsilyl nitrile

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Yardley, PA, United States of America

Thomas V John