The Preparation of Imidacloprid in a Jet Loop Reactor

A new process for the direct combination of 2-chloro-5-chloromethylpyridine and 2-nitroiminoimidazolidine under benzyltriethylammonium chloride (BTEAC) as the catalyst and butanone as the solvent to yield imidacloprid in an 11.5 L jet loop reactor was developed. Five main reaction conditions including reaction temperature, molar ratio of BTEAC to 2-nitroiminoimidazolidine, concentration of 2-nitroiminoimidazolidine, jet liquid flow rate, and the ratio of the inside diameter of the draft tube to that of the reactor were investigated and optimized. The average molar yield and purity of imidacloprid increased to approximately 80% and 92% under the optimum operating conditions, respectively. Finally, a comparison of the efficiency for the preparation of imidacloprid between the jet loop reactor and the stirred tank reactor under the same operating conditions was conducted.