Alkylaromatic

Olefin polymers alpha-olefin polymers (PAO), polybutenes and alkylaromatics, in particular the dialkylbenzenes (DAB). This class of compounds is the most widespread and accounted for 44% of the synthetic base market in France in 1992. 

Sulfonic acids can come from the sulfonation of oil cuts from white oil production by sulfuric acid treatment. Sodium salts of alkylaromatic sulfonic acids are compounds whose aliphatic chains contain around 20 carbon atoms. The aromatic ring compounds are mixtures of benzene and naphthalene rings. 

The scope of oxidation chemistry is enormous and embraces a wide range of reactions and processes. This article provides a brief introduction to the homogeneous free-radical oxidations of paraffinic and alkylaromatic hydrocarbons. Heterogeneous catalysis, biochemical and hiomimetic oxidations, oxidations of unsaturates, anodic oxidations, etc, even if used to illustrate specific points, are arbitrarily outside the purview of this article. There are, even so, many unifying features among these areas. 

The simple hydroperoxide mechanism so far discussed is incomplete for representing reactions with significant products other than hydroperoxides. It can be adequate for oxidations of certain unsaturates, aldehydes, and alkylaromatics where the yield of the corresponding hydroperoxide can exceed 90%. 

All laromatics. The aromatic ring is fairly inert toward attack by oxygen-centered radicals. Aromatic acids consisting of carboxyl groups substituted on aromatic rings are good candidates for production by LPO of alkylaromatics since thek k /k ratios are low. TerephthaUc acid [100-21 -0]... 

The aromatic core or framework of many aromatic compounds is relatively resistant to alkylperoxy radicals and inert under the usual autoxidation conditions (2). Consequentiy, even somewhat exotic aromatic acids are resistant to further oxidation this makes it possible to consider alkylaromatic LPO as a selective means of producing fine chemicals (206). Such products may include multifimctional aromatic acids, acids with fused rings, acids with rings linked by carbon—carbon bonds, or through ether, carbonyl, or other linkages (279—287). The products may even be phenoUc if the phenoUc hydroxyl is first esterified (288,289). 

An additional curious feature of alkylaromatic oxidation is that, under conditions where the initial attack involves electron transfer, the relative rate of attack on different alkyl groups attached to the same aromatic ring is quite different from that observed in alkane oxidation. For example, the oxidation of -cymene can lead to high yields of -isopropylbenzoic acid (2,205,297,298). 

Thermal stabihty of the foaming agent in the presence of high temperature steam is essential. Alkylaromatic sulfonates possess superior chemical stabihty at elevated temperatures (205,206). However, alpha-olefin sulfonates have sufficient chemical stabihty to justify their use at steam temperatures characteristic of most U.S. steamflood operations. Decomposition is a desulfonation process which is first order in both surfactant and acid concentrations (206). Because acid is generated in the decomposition, the process is autocatalytic. However, reservoir rock has a substantial buffering effect. 

The alpha-olefin sulfonates (AOS) have been found to possess good salt tolerance and chemical stabiUty at elevated temperatures. AOS surfactants exhibit good oil solubilization and low iaterfacial tension over a wide range of temperatures (219,231), whereas less salt tolerant alkylaromatic sulfonates exhibit excellent chemical stabiUty. The nature of the alkyl group, the aryl group, and the aromatic ring isomer distribution can be adjusted to improve surfactant performance under a given set of reservoir conditions (232,233). 

Alkanes can be simultaneously chlorinated and chlorosulfonated. This commercially useful reaction has been appHed to polyethylene (201—203). Aromatics can be chlorinated on the ring, and in the presence of a free-radical initiator alkylaromatic compounds can be chlorinated selectively in the side chain. King chlorination can be selective. A patent shows chlorination of 2,5-di- to 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid free of the toxic... 

Studies on the Chlorination of the Side Chains of Alkylaromatic Compounds, P. G. Harvey,... 

A question which inevitably arises on surveying the enormous sucess of the Amoco catalyst is why the combination Co/Mn/Br in acetic acid In order to answer this question we must first examine the mechanism of free radical chain autoxidations of alkylaromatics (ref. 4). 

As was noted by Jones (ref. 12) the success of a metal bromide as a catalyst for alkylaromatic autoxidations depends on the ability of the metal to transfer rapidly and efficiently oxidizing power from various autoxidation intermediates onto bromide ion in a manner which generates Br-. The fact that no free bromine is observable in this system is consistent with rapid reaction of intermediate bromine atoms with the substrate. Inhibition of the reaction by cupric salts can be explained by the rapid removal of Br2 or ArCH2- via one-electron oxidation by Cu (Fig. 10). 

The effects of manganese on the cobalt/bromide-catalyzed autoxidation of alkylaromatics are summarized in Figure 17. The use of the Mn/Co/Br system allows for higher reaction temperatures and lower catalyst concentrations than the bromide-free processes. The only disavantage is the corrosive nature of the bromide-containing system which necessitates the use of titanium-lined reactors. 

As noted earlier, the Amoco catalyst system has been applied to the autoxidation of a wide variety of, mainly methylaromatic, substrates (ref. 19). It has also been applied to the oxidation of other alkylaromatics, e.g. the oxidation of m-phenoxyethylbenzene to the pharmaceutical intermediate, m-phenoxyaceto-phenone (2). 

Table 1. Phase transfer catalysis in alkylaromatic oxidation. 

In the presence of anunonium bromide cobalt (ref. 22) and manganese (ref. 23) have been shown to catalyze the ammoxidation of methylaromatics to the corresponding aromatic nitriles (Fig. 20). It is interesting to compare this homogeneous, liquid phase system with the more well-known vapour phase ammoxidation of alkylaromatics over oxidic catalysts (ref. 4). 

Zaidi (ref. 28) has reported the autoxidation of cyclohexane in acetic acid, at 60-80 °C and 1 bar, in the presence of a Co(OAc)2/NaBr catalyst (4). Adipic acid was obtained in 31% yield. Based on the results obtained in alkylaromatic oxidations it would be interesting to try the Co/Mn/Br /HOAc system in cyclohexane oxidation. It is, however, difficult to believe that this has not already been done. 

The bromination of meta-nitrotoluene is an example for a high-temperature, high-pressure (high p,T) side-chain bromination of alkylaromatics [25]. 

This chapter compares the reaction of gas-phase methylation of phenol with methanol in basic and in acid catalysis, with the aim of investigating how the transformations occurring on methanol affect the catalytic performance and the reaction mechanism. It is proposed that with the basic catalyst, Mg/Fe/0, the tme alkylating agent is formaldehyde, obtained by dehydrogenation of methanol. Formaldehyde reacts with phenol to yield salicyl alcohol, which rapidly dehydrogenates to salicyladehyde. The latter was isolated in tests made by feeding directly a formalin/phenol aqueous solution. Salicylaldehyde then transforms to o-cresol, the main product of the basic-catalyzed methylation of phenol, likely by means of an intramolecular H-transfer with formaldehyde. With an acid catalyst, H-mordenite, the main products were anisole and cresols moreover, methanol was transformed to alkylaromatics. 

Aromatic aldehydes and ketones are reduced to alkylaromatics under similar conditions through reactions involving benzylic cations.176... 

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