IN-SITU QUANTITATIVE AND KINETIC-STUDY BY FOURIER-TRANSFORM RAMAN-SPECTROSCOPY OF REACTION BETWEEN NITRILES AND HYDROPEROXIDES

The reaction of nitrile with alkaline hydrogen peroxide has been studi ed kinetically by means of iodometry several times. We proposed to set up an in situ analytical method to follow the consumption of nitrile. We applied FT-Raman spectroscopy coupled with a partial least-squares quantitative method to the study the reactions of hydrogen peroxide o r tert-butyl hydroperoxide on benzonitrile and acetonitrile. The resul ts obtained led us to conclusions on the reactivity of the hydroperoxi des and on the rate of consumption of nitrile. Our study made also cle ar that FT-Raman spectroscopy was a convenient tool for controlling in dustrial processes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.