Fatty nitrile esters for biosourced polyamide polymers

Polyamides (e.g., nylon) are usually produced from amino acids, but a new alternative is amino esters, which can be obtained from renewable sources such as vegetable oils. These substances can be used to produce special high-value plastics such as Rilsan® (polyamide 11). However, production is not easy. When converting intermediates containing nitrile groups into amines (hydrogenation), it is necessary to achieve a very pure product so that the monomers are suitable for further processing. Therefore, we investigated how different catalysts, temperature, hydrogen pressure, or the addition of ammonia affect the course of the reaction and the resulting product quality. This work, in the form of a chapter in a book, not only summarizes the current state of knowledge in the field of nitrile hydrogenation, but also supplements it with our own experiments, calculations, and modeling in order to better understand the reaction mechanism and determine the optimal conditions for the preparation of amines from fatty acid nitrile esters for the industrial production of polyamides from renewable sources.

• Stavárek P., Lali F., Dubois J.-L.: 894 Fatty nitrile esters for biosourced polyamide polymers, in: K. Serge, D. Jean-Luc (Eds.), Industrial Green Chemistry 2^nd Ed., De Gruyter 2025, pp. 89-128. DOI