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material for polyurethane is also produced from
hexamethylenediamine. Because of the benefits
of nylon and polyurethane, cathodic
hydrocoupling of acrylonitrile is an essential
technology for daily life.
(8.1)
Cathodic hydrocoupling of acrylonitrile has
been known since the 1940s, but the yield of
adiponitrile was not high initially. In 1960,
Baizer at Monsanto improved both the yield
and current efficiency of the hydrocoupling by
using quaternary ammonium salts as the
supporting electrolyte [2]. In 1963 and 1965,
Monsanto developed and commercialized,
respectively, the electrohydrodimerization of
acrylonitrile, which was produced at low cost on
a large scale using the SOHIO method
established at that time (
Eq. 8.2
). An aqueous
solution containing a large amount of
quaternary ammonium salts (about 40%) was
used to dissolve hardly-soluble acrylonitrile at
high concentration. Thus, the Monsanto
process adopted a homogeneous electrolytic
system.
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