Catalytic deamination for caprolactam production
AssigneeBoard of Trustees of Michigan State University
InventorJohn W. Frost
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Catalytic processes for preparing caprolactam, pipecolinic acid, and their derivatives, from lysine or alpha-amino-epsilon-caprolactam starting materials, and products produced thereby. A process for preparing caprolactam or a derivative thereof, the process comprising contacting a reactant comprising lysine or alpha aminocaprolactam with a catalyst and a gas comprising hydrogen gas, in the presence of a solvent. The catalyst may be provided on a support material, such as a transition metal.
Claims46
A process for preparing caprolactam, the process comprising contacting lysine, alpha aminocaprolactam or a salt thereof, with a transition metal catalyst and hydrogen gas or a hydrogen gas mixture, optionally in the presence of a solvent.
A process for preparing pipecolinic acid, comprising the step of contacting lysine with a transition metal catalyst, and hydrogen gas or a hydrogen gas mixture, in the presence of a solvent comprising water.
A process for preparing caprolactam, the process comprising:
- (a) heating lysine or salt thereof to a temperature of about 50° C. to 300° C., optionally in the presence of a first transition metal catalyst to produce a first reaction product comprising alpha amino caprolactam:
- (b) contacting said first reaction product with hydrogen gas or a hydrogen gas mixture and a second transition metal catalyst to produce a second reaction product comprising caprolactam;
- (c) recovering caprolactam from the second reaction product to produce a recovered caprolactam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.