Patent ID: 7371890

Claim:
A process for continuously preparing a compound that contains at least two functional groups which are each independently selected from the group consisting of nitrile group, carboxylic acid group, carboxylic ester group and carboxamide group, the process comprising the steps of a) adding two terminal olefins, wherein each of the terminal olefins comprise at least one of the functional groups, to an addition catalyst that is homogeneous with respect to the resulting reaction mixture, the reaction mixture comprising a1) the compound is that contains the at least two functional groups and is obtained by monoaddition of the two terminal olefins, a2) a compound that is obtained by polyaddition of the two terminal olefins and a3) the addition catalyst, the addition catalyst homogeneous with respect to the reaction mixture, b) distilling the reaction mixture obtained in step a) to obtain b1) the compound by monoaddition of the two terminal olefins as one product and b2) a mixture comprising b2a) the compound that is obtained by monoaddition of the two terminal olefins, b2b) the compound that is obtained by polyaddition of the two terminal olefins and b2c) the addition catalyst, the addition catalyst homogeneous with respect to the reaction mixture, c) forming a permeate and a retentate by contacting the mixture obtained in step b2) or a portion thereof of to a semipermeable membrane such that a weight ratio of component b2b) to component b2c) in the mixture b2) is smaller than in the retentate, d) recycling the permeate obtained in step c) or a portion thereof to step a) and e) optionally recycling the portion of the mixture obtained in step b2) that has not been in contact with the membrane in step c) to step a).