Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.

Yoshinori Kanamori

Shuji Ebata

Takashi Okawa

Kengo Tsukahara

Hideaki Ogino

Yoshiaki Yamamoto

Yasushi Hiramatsu

As catalysts for producing aromatic amines by hydrogenating aromatic nitrites, there are disclosed (1) the catalyst comprising a metal catalyst component comprising Ni and/or Co and a specific amount of zirconia as a carrier component, which is prepared by drying, calcining and forming a precipitate produced by adding an aqueous solution containing soluble salts of the metal catalyst component and the carrier component to an aqueous alkali solution; and (2) the catalyst comprising the metal catalyst component and the carrier component, which is prepared by filtering a precipitate produced by adding an aqueous solution containing soluble salts of the metal catalyst component and the carrier component to an aqueous alkali solution; forming the precipitate without drying to obtain a formed product; and subjecting the formed product to drying and then calcining. These catalysts are free from breaking owing to rapid generation of methane and evaporation of liquid ammonia by hydrogenolysis of high boiling by-products of the hydrogenation when reactivated after deactivation of the catalyst, which allows the long-term use of the catalysts.

Catalysts and process for producing aromatic amines

A di(aminomethyl)-substituted aromatic compound is produced by a two-stage hydrogenation. In the first stage, an aromatic dinitrile is hydrogenated into a cyano(aminomethyl)-substituted aromatic compound in the presence of a Pd-containing catalyst. The resultant cyano(aminomethyl)-substituted aromatic compound is then hydrogenated in the second stage into the target di(aminomethyl)-substituted aromatic compound in the presence of a Ni- and/or Co-containing catalyst. By the above method, the di(aminomethyl)-substituted aromatic compound is produced in a high selectivity and a sufficiently high yield without reducing the catalyst life.

High-selective production method of di(aminomethyl)-substituted aromatic compound

A carbocyclic or heterocyclic compound, ammonia and an oxygen-containing gas are subjected to fluid catalytic reaction in vapor phase in the presence of a catalyst containing alkali metal to produce an aromatic or heterocyclic nitrile. The use of the catalyst containing a specific amount of alkali metal enables the stable production of the aromatic or heterocyclic nitrile in high yields with little change with time even when water is present in the reaction system. The use of the catalyst containing the alkali metal also enables the recycle and reuse of unreacted ammonia which is usually accompanied by water, thereby reducing production costs.

Process for producing heterocyclic nitriles

Process for producing carbocyclic nitriles

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Niigata, Japan

Yoshinori Kanamori