Alkylation catalysts, basic

Recently, a combinatorial investigation of alkylation of toluene with methanol to produce styrene with basic zeolites and alkaline earth catalysts was performed (257). The results of tests involving preparation and testing of more than 200 catalysts were modest, and these results emphasize that fine-tuning of the acid and base properties necessary to achieve better alkylation catalysts is not an easy task. 

Some zeolitic and non-zeolitic molecular sieve catalysts are claimed to be capable for ortho- and para-selective alkylation using olefin as alkylating agent (refs. 1,2). Zeolite catalysts are less active and selective in the methylation of aniline by methanol (refs. 3,4). Reaction is usually carried out with a large excess of methanol since a large fraction of the alcohol decomposes without participating in the alkylation. Numerous N- and C-alkylated aniline derivatives appear in the reaction product. It was found that N-alkylation requires basic sites while C-alkylation occurs mainly on acidic sites (refs. 5-7). 

Lithium and magnesium alkyl catalysts yield metal-polymer bonds with appreciable covalent character and their cations coordinate strongly with nucleophiles. Therefore, these catalysts will initiate simple anionic polymerization only under the most favorable conditions, e. g., in basic solvents and with monomers which produce resonance stabilized polymer anions. As examples of stereoregular anionic polymerization, a-methyl-methacrylate yields syndiotactic polymer with an alkyl lithium catalyst in 1,2-dimethoxyethane at — 60° C. (211, 212) or with a Grignard catalyst at -40° C. (213). 

EF material free, alkali exchanged zeolites are used as quite mild basic catalysts. Light alkali and alkaline earth metal zeolites, such as Na-X, Na-Y [165], alkali-MOR, Na-A and Ca-A [166], have a mild Lewis acid behavior and do not appear to have strong basic character. The same occurs for Na-silica-alumina [167]. However, heavy alkali metal zeolites such as Cs-Y actually act as base catalysts, or rather as acid-base catalysts, for example for toluene side-chain alkylation. Stronger basic character arises from impregnation of alkali zeolites with alkali salts, later... 

Methylation can be carried out with either acid or basic catalysts, and catalyst properties affect the distribution of the products, especially when different positions for methylation are present. Acid zeolites are very active catalysts in alkylation of phenol derivatives however, the considerable formation of heavy compounds leads to a fast deactivation of the catalyst. Basic catalysts, such as single oxides (MgO) and Mg-Al mixed oxides, have been found to be less active than the acid ones, but did not form heavy products [4]. Mg-Al mixed oxides, prepared starting from hydrotalcite precursors, have shown the best basic features, and indeed in recent years these materials have been reported as catalysts for different basic reactions, such as the Claisen-Schmidt condensation, the Knoevenagel condensation, and many others [5-9]. 

MWW, acid oxidation catalyst MWW alkylation catalyst MWW, basicity MWW, Beckmann catalsyt MWW, Co... 

The cyanoacryhc esters are prepared via the Knoevenagel condensation reaction (5), in which the corresponding alkyl cyanoacetate reacts with formaldehyde in the presence of a basic catalyst to form a low molecular weight polymer. The polymer slurry is acidified and the water is removed. Subsequendy, the polymer is cracked and redistilled at a high temperature onto a suitable stabilizer combination to prevent premature repolymerization. Strong protonic or Lewis acids are normally used in combination with small amounts of a free-radical stabilizer. 

Idemitsu Process. Idemitsu built a 50 t x 10 per year plant at Chiba, Japan, which was commissioned in Febmary of 1989. In the Idemitsu process, ethylene is oligomerised at 120°C and 3.3 MPa (33 atm) for about one hour in the presence of a large amount of cyclohexane and a three-component catalyst. The cyclohexane comprises about 120% of the product olefin. The catalyst includes sirconium tetrachloride, an aluminum alkyl such as a mixture of ethylalurninumsesquichloride and triethyl aluminum, and a Lewis base such as thiophene or an alcohol such as methanol (qv). This catalyst combination appears to produce more polymer (- 2%) than catalysts used in other a-olefin processes. The catalyst content of the cmde product is about 0.1 wt %. The catalyst is killed by using weak ammonium hydroxide followed by a water wash. Ethylene and cyclohexane are recycled. Idemitsu s basic a-olefin process patent (9) indicates that linear a-olefin levels are as high as 96% at C g and close to 100% at and Cg. This is somewhat higher than those produced by other processes. 

UBE Industries, Ltd. has improved the basic method (32—48). In the UBE process, dialkyl oxalate is prepared by oxidative CO coupling in the presence of alkyl nitrite and a palladium catalyst. 

Side-chain anionic alkylation reactions with aromatic compounds take place when cataly2ed with strong basic catalysts, like Na—K (228). The yield is 83% when o-xylene reacts with butadiene... 

AH commercial processes for the manufacture of caprolactam ate based on either toluene or benzene, each of which occurs in refinery BTX-extract streams (see BTX processing). Alkylation of benzene with propylene yields cumene (qv), which is a source of phenol and acetone ca 10% of U.S. phenol is converted to caprolactam. Purified benzene can be hydrogenated over platinum catalyst to cyclohexane nearly aH of the latter is used in the manufacture of nylon-6 and nylon-6,6 chemical intermediates. A block diagram of the five main process routes to caprolactam from basic taw materials, eg, hydrogen (which is usuaHy prepared from natural gas) and sulfur, is given in Eigute 2. 

Class (2) reactions are performed in the presence of dilute to concentrated aqueous sodium hydroxide, powdered potassium hydroxide, or, at elevated temperatures, soHd potassium carbonate, depending on the acidity of the substrate. Alkylations are possible in the presence of concentrated NaOH and a PT catalyst for substrates with conventional pX values up to - 23. This includes many C—H acidic compounds such as fiuorene, phenylacetylene, simple ketones, phenylacetonittile. Furthermore, alkylations of N—H, O—H, S—H, and P—H bonds, and ambident anions are weU known. Other basic phase-transfer reactions are hydrolyses, saponifications, isomerizations, H/D exchange, Michael-type additions, aldol, Darzens, and similar... 

The purpose of this work was to increase the A3 selectivity at low conversion through a catalyst modification. Previous studies of phenol alkylation with methanol (the analogue reaction) over oxides and zeolites showed that the reaction is sensitive to acidic and basic properties of the catalysts [3-5]. It is the aim of this study to understand the dependence of catalyst structure and acidity on activity and selectivity in gas phase methylation of catechol. Different cations such as Li, K, Mg, Ca, B, incorporated into y-Al203 can markedly modify the polarisation of the lattice and consequently influence the acidic and basic properties of the surface [5-8] which control the mechanism of this reaction. 

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. 

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