Process for the manufacture of aromatic cyanides
AssigneeA H Marks and Company Limited
InventorsRobert H. Stanley, Nathan C. Hindley
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Abstract
The invention provides a process for the preparation of ortho- and para-hydroxybenzyl cyanides. The process of the invention comprises the reaction of an aromatic alcohol selected from ortho- and para-hydroxybenzyl alcohols with a cyanide reagent and an ester capable of esterifying the hydroxyl group of the benzyl alcohol. In a preferred form of the process there is employed a route via the reaction of an ortho- or para-hydroxybenzyl formate with a cyanide reagent preferably selected from sodium and potassium cyanides.
Claims11
A process for the preparation of ortho- and/or para-hydroxybenzyl cyanide which consists essentially in reacting the corresponding ortho- or para-hydroxybenzyl alcohol with a cyanide reagent and an ester capable of esterifying said alcohol and in the further presence of a solvent selected from the class of methanol and ethanol, and recovering the corresponding hydroxybenzyl cyanide from the reaction mixture.
A process for the preparation of an aromatic cyanide selected from ortho- and para-hydroxybenzyl cyanides, which process comprises reacting:
- (a) a cyanide reagent selected from sodium and potassium cyanides with,
- (b) an aromatic starting material selected from (i) ortho- and para-hydroxybenzyl alcohols together with a formate ester, and (ii) ortho- and para-hydroxybenzyl formates alone,
- in a primary alcohol solvent selected from methanol and ethanol, at about reflux temperature with a ratio of alcohol to ester of from about 2:1 to about 4:1 by volume to produce the said aromatic cyanide.
A process which comprises reacting an ortho- or para-hydroxybenzyl formate ester with sodium or potassium cyanide in the presence of methanol or ethanol as reaction solvent to produce, respectively, an ortho- or para-hydroxybenzyl cyanide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.