Hydrolysis of nitriles in supercritical water

In many chemical reactions water plays an important role as a solvent, a re action partner or a catalyst. At high temperatures water tends to be an ext remely reactive partner. In order to investigate the synthesis potential of hot water in near- and supercritical conditions, the conversion of acetoni trile and benzonitrile (representing aliphatic and aromatic nitriles, respe ctively) was examined in near- and supercritical water in the temperature a nd pressure ranges of 300 to 450 degrees C and 23 to 32 Mpa. The investigat ions showed that nitriles convert selectively to the corresponding amides a nd carboxylic acids in hot water without any additives, such as mineral aci ds and salts.