Itsuo Furuoya

Synthesis of fumaro- and maleonitrile by ammoxidation of C4-Hydrocarbon

Abstract Synthesis of fumaronitrile (FN) and maleonitrile (MN) by the ammooxidation of C 4 -hydrocarbon was investigated. The composite oxide containing V or W supported on TiO 2 exhibited higher yield of FN and MN mixture than Bi, Mo oxide. The catalyst consisting of V, W, Cr, P oxides showed about 50 mol% yield of FN and MN mixture under the condition ; SV = 2000hr 1 and the feeding molar ratio of Butadiene : NH 3 : Air = 1 : 5 : 94. N-butene and n-butane are also commercially suitable as raw materials for the ammoxidation of C 4 -hydrocarbons using above mentioned catalyst system.

A novel vapor phase process for aromatic ketone synthesis

The vapor phase catalytic reaction between aromatic carboxylic acid and acetic acid was investigated. Many metal oxides catalyzed the reaction between 2‐methylbenzoic acid (OTA) and acetic acid (AA) to produce 2‐methylacetophenone (OMA), and weakly acidic oxides such as Th, U, Ce, and La oxide exhibited higher yield of OMA. The OMA yield depended on the catalyst support. SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, and ZrO2 with a surface area of less than 200 m2 g−1 appeared to be suitable as industrial catalyst supports. CeO2 on Al2O3was chosen as an industrial catalyst for the synthesis of OMA because of higher productivity, longer catalyst life, and lifting of legal restrictions on catalyst handling. This catalyst system can also be applied to the syntheses of acetophenone, nitroacetophenone, and chloroacetophenone.