Because of the industrial value of adiponitrile, many methods have been developed for its synthesis. Early industrial methods started from furfural and later by the chlorination of butadiene to give 1,4-dichloro-2-butene, which with sodium cyanide, converts to 3-hexenedinitrile, which in turn can be hydrogenated to adiponitrile:[4]
The process involves several stages, the first of which involves monohydrocyanation (the addition of one molecule of HCN), affording isomers of pentenenitriles as well as 2- and 3-methylbutanenitriles. These unsaturated nitriles are subsequently isomerized to the 3-and 4-pentenenitriles. In the final stage, these pentenenitriles are subjected to a second hydrocyanation, in an anti-Markovnikov sense, to produce adiponitrile.[4]
3-pentenenitrile, formed in the first hydrocyanation, can undergo alkene metathesis to give dicyanobutenes, which are readily hydrogenated as described above. A useful byproduct of the production of adiponitrile is 2-methylglutaronitrile.
BASF closed the 128 kt/y ADN plant at Seal Sands in 2009.[10]
In 2015, the Shandong Runxing New Material 100 kt/y plant suffered an explosion and was not reopened.[8] In 2022, Invista plans to open a 300–400 kt/y plant in Shanghai.[11]
Safety
The LD50 (median lethal dose) of adiponitrile is 300 mg/kg for oral ingestion by rats.[4]
^"adiponitrile - Compound Summary". PubChem Compound. USA: National Center for Biotechnology Information. 26 March 2005. Identification. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
^ abcdM. T. Musser, "Adipic Acid" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005. doi:10.1002/14356007.a01_269
^Cardoso, D. S.; Šljukić, B.; Santos, D. M.; Sequeira, C. A. (2017). "Organic Electrosynthesis: From Laboratorial Practice to Industrial Applications". Organic Process Research & Development. 21 (9) (published July 17, 2017): 1213–1226. doi:10.1021/acs.oprd.7b00004.
^Baizer, Manuel M. (1964). "Electrolytic Reductive Coupling". Journal of the Electrochemical Society. 111 (2): 215. doi:10.1149/1.2426086.
^Robert A. Smiley "Hexamethylenediamine" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005. doi:10.1002/14356007.a12_629