M. Yale et al., THE HYDRODECHLORINATION OF CHLOROAROMATIC AND UNSATURATED CHLOROALIPHATIC COMPOUNDS USING A NICKEL BORIDE REAGENT, Applied organometallic chemistry, 9(4), 1995, pp. 297-303
A nickel boride reagent, prepared in situ by the reaction of nickel ch
loride with sodium borohydride, has been used to hydrodechlorinate and
hydrogenate chloroaromatic compounds. The same reagent can also dechl
orinate chloro-olefinic compounds but chloroalkanes do not react. The
reactions can be sustained by addition of hydrogen gas and the ratio o
f the aromatic to aliphatic hydrocarbons produced can be varied by add
ition of sodium hydroxide to the reaction mixture and by the duration
of the reaction. The reactivity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), p
olychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), chlorobenzene and tetrachloroethyl
ene have been studied. Capillary gas chromatography was used to follow
the course of reactions and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-
MS) was used for product identification.