Example 5: Hydrogenation of terephthalonitrile
1. 3.2 g of terephthalonitrile, 10.4 g of homotrimethylbenzene, 10.0 g of liquid ammonia, and 2.0 g of Pd-alumina pellets (manufactured by NE Chemcat Corporation; Pd content = 5% by weight) were added to a 100 ml autoclave.
2. the internal pressure was increased to 4.9 MPa using hydrogen.
3. The autoclave was shaken at 50 °C until the pressure no longer changed.
4. Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction product solution was analyzed and showed 94.8% conversion of terephthalonitrile, 88.8% yield of 4-cyanobenzylamine and 5.8% yield of p-phenylenediamine.
5. The isolated reaction solution was added to another 100 ml autoclave along with 10.0 g of liquid ammonia and 2.0 g of Catalyst A. The reaction solution was then added to another 100 ml autoclave.
6. The internal pressure was raised to 4.9 MPa using hydrogen again.
7. The autoclave was shaken at 50°C until the pressure no longer changed.
8. Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction product solution was analyzed and showed a conversion of 100 mol% for terephthalonitrile, a yield of 0.2 mol% for 4-cyanobenzylamine, and a yield of 92.1 mol% for p-xylene diamine.
