Process for catalyst recovery from hydrocyanation product mixtures

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a process for recovering diphosphite-containing compounds from a mixture comprising diphosphite-containing compounds and organic dinitriles and Lewis acid, using liquid-liquid extraction, wherein the molar ratio of organic mononitrile present to organic dinitrile from about 0.01 to about 2.5 and wherein the mixtured is treated with a Lewis base compound selected from the group consisting of monodentate phosphite ligand, alcohol, water, organoamines, ammonia and basic resin, and wherein the extraction solvent is a saturated or unsaturated alkane or saturated or unsaturated cycloalkane; wherein the Lewis base compound is selected from the group consisting of water, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, ethylene glycol, phenol, cresol, or xylenol. Also disclosed are pre-treatments to enhance extractability of the diphosphite-containing compounds.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.