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Chemistry

A cleaner way to nylon?

Nature volume 437, pages 1243–1244 (2005)Cite this article

The polymer nylon-6 is much in demand. An innovation in producing the precursor molecule, ε-caprolactam, involves a one-step process that is environmentally benign and may be scaled up for bulk production.

The catalytic acceleration of chemical reactions and improvement of their selectivity is a familiar concept. In exploiting the power of catalysis, however, chemists must often try to combine two or more catalysts to accelerate sequential stages in a complex sequence of reactions. Such a combination has great potential value, because all but the most mundane chemical transformations involve several steps. As they report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1, Thomas and Raja have devised a procedure that promises to help meet this need in certain applications.

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Figure 1: Ways of making ɛ-caprolactam (CPL).

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Robert Mokaya & Martyn Poliakoff

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  1. Robert Mokaya
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  2. Martyn Poliakoff
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Mokaya, R., Poliakoff, M. A cleaner way to nylon?. Nature 437, 1243–1244 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4371243a

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