Renewable biomass based levulinic acid was converted to 5-methyl-2-pyrrolidone in 94% yield by a Raney-Ni catalyzed process using ammonium formate in aqueous medium and heating at 180 °C for 3 h. The Raney-Ni could be reused for four catalytic cycles with about 10% loss in catalytic activity. In a similar reaction levulinic acid could be converted 1-substituted-5-methyl-2-pyrrolidones in 90–95% yield by using a mixture of formic acid and the corresponding primary amine.

中文翻译：

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用甲酸铵作为氢和氮源，阮内镍催化乙酰丙酸向5-甲基-2-吡咯烷酮的转化

使用甲酸铵在水性介质中并在180°C下加热3 h，通过阮内-镍催化的方法，可再生的基于生物质的乙酰丙酸以94％的产率转化为5-甲基-2-吡咯烷酮。Raney-Ni可以重复使用四个催化循环，而催化活性损失约10％。在类似的反应中，通过使用甲酸和相应的伯胺的混合物，乙酰丙酸可以90-95％的产率转化为1-取代的5-甲基-2-吡咯烷酮。