Summary: Hydrogenated acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber is a high‐performance elastomer that has found important applications in the automobile industry and petroleum fields. A new catalytic process has been investigated for producing hydrogenated acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber by direct hydrogenation of the rubber in latex form using RhCl(PPh3)3 as catalyst. The reactions were achieved without the addition of any organic solvents. This is the first time that the direct catalytic hydrogenation of an acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber latex has been successfully realized in the absence of any organic solvent with a conversion of higher than 95% without cross‐linking of the polymer.Effect of RhCl(PPh3)3/acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber ratio on hydrogenation.magnified imageEffect of RhCl(PPh3)3/acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber ratio on hydrogenation.

Cover: The spectra on the cover show the selective and quantitative hydrogenation of the carbon-carbon double bonds in nitrile butadiene rubber, which provides evidence for the successful hydrogenation of nitrile butadiene rubber in latex form in the absence of any organic solvent. Details can be found in the Communication by Z. Wei, J. Wu, Q. Pan,* and G. L. Rempel* on page 1768.

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