O -Xylene

Example 13.1 Phthalic anhydride is an important intermediate for the plastics industry. Manufacture is by the controlled oxidation of o-xylene or naphthalene. The most common route uses o-xylene via the reaction... 

Figure 13.5 shows a flowsheet for the manufacture of phthalic anhydride by the oxidation of o-xylene. Air and o-xylene are heated and mixed in a Venturi, where the o-xylene vaporizes. The reaction mixture enters a tubular catalytic reactor. The heat of reaction is removed from the reactor by recirculation of molten salt. The temperature control in the reactor would be diflficult to maintain by methods other than molten salt. 

The 3D autocorrelation vector of the three xylene isomers in Figure 8-4 differ only with respect to the component relating to the two methyl groups. For o-xylene it is... 

Oxidation of a side chain by alkaline permanganate. Aromatic hydrocarbons containing side chains may be oxidised to the corresponding acids the results are generally satisfactory for compounds with one side chain e.g., toluene or ethylbenzene -> benzoic acid nitrotoluene -> nitrobenzoic acid) or with two side chains e.g., o-xylene -> phthalic acid). 

The addition of sulphuric acid increased the rate of nitration of benzene, and under the influence of this additive the rate became proportional to the first powers of the concentrations of aromatic, acetyl nitrate and sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid markedly catalysed the zeroth-order nitration and acetoxylation of o-xylene without affecting the kinetic form of the reaction. ... 

In the nitration and acetoxylation of o-xylene the addition of acetic acid increased the rate in proportion to its concentration, the presence of 3-0 mol 1" accelerating the rate by a factor of 30. In the presence of a substantial concentration (2-2 mol 1 ) of acetic acid the rate of reaction obeyed the following kinetic expression... 

More information has appeared concerning the nature of the side reactions, such as acetoxylation, which occur when certain methylated aromatic hydrocarbons are treated with mixtures prepared from nitric acid and acetic anhydride. Blackstock, Fischer, Richards, Vaughan and Wright have provided excellent evidence in support of a suggested ( 5.3.5) addition-elimination route towards 3,4-dimethylphenyl acetate in the reaction of o-xylene. Two intermediates were isolated, both of which gave rise to 3,4-dimethylphenyl acetate in aqueous acidic media and when subjected to vapour phase chromatography. One was positively identified, by ultraviolet, infra-red, n.m.r., and mass spectrometric studies, as the compound (l). The other was less stable and less well identified, but could be (ll). 

Hartshorn and Thompson have also found evidence for adduct formation with o-xylene, n.m.r. investigations of the reaction solution revealing peaks in... 

Arrange the following five compounds in order of decreasing rate of bromination benzene toluene o xylene m xylene 13 5 tnmethylbenzene (the relative rates are 2 X 10 5 X 10" 5 X 10 60 and 1)... 

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