Alkylation of Aromatics with Alkyl Chloroformates and Oxalates

4 Alkylation of Aromatics with Alkyl Chloroformates and Oxalates 

Alkylation of toluene and phenol with alkyl esters of carboxylic acids and alkyl chlo- 

Diethyl oxalate shows particularly good alkylating ability even at milder conditions. Thus, its reaction with toluene under reflux (383 K) for 12 h gave up to 50% ethyl-toluene. The advantage of alkyl chloroformate in liquid-phase alkylation lies primarily in their volatile byproducts. 

Gas-phase alkylation of toluene with alkyl chloroformate was also reported to be efficient. Due to the high reactivity of alkyl chloroformates, as compared to that of alcohols, higher yields of alkylation of toluene were obtained under the same reaction conditions. A 59% conversion of methyl chloroformate was observed in the alkylation of toluene at 573 K, as compared to about 10% conversion using methanol. 

5 Alkylation of Phenols with Alcohols eind Olefins 

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