Phenol alkylphenols from

The aromatic ring of alkylphenols imparts an acidic character to the hydroxyl group the piC of unhindered alkylphenols is 10—11 (2). Alkylphenols unsubstituted in the ortho position dissolve in aqueous caustic. As the carbon number of the alkyl chain increases, the solubihty of the alkah phenolate salt in water decreases, but aqueous caustic extractions of alkylphenols from an organic solution can be accomphshed at elevated temperatures. Bulky ortho substituents reduce the solubihty of the alkah phenolate in water. The term cryptophenol has been used to describe this phenomenon. A 35% solution of potassium hydroxide in methanol (Qaisen s alkah) dissolves such hindered phenols (3). 

At the end of World War II, Fischer-Tropsch technology was under study in most industrial nations. Coal can be gasified to produce synthesis gas (syngas), which can be converted to paraffinic liquid fuels and chemicals by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Liquid product mainly contains benzene, toluene, xylene (BTX), phenols, alkylphenols and cresol. The low cost and high availability of crude oil, however, led to a decline in interest in liquid fuels made from coal. 

In the phenolic lipids such as the alkylphenols from Anacardium occidentals, semi-synthetic transformations have been described which exploit the functionality of the component phenols, cardanol, cardol and anacardic acid (ref. 104). A number of reactions are shown for... 

Contamination of water by phenol or substituted phenols is very often due to industrial activity, because these are commercially very important chemicals. Phenol, cresylic acids, and cresols are used for making phenol-formaldehyde resins and tricesyl phosphates. Phenol, alkylphenol, and polyphenols are important raw materials for a wide variety of organic compounds, dyes, pharmaceuticals, plastizers, antioxidants, etc. Phenols are also present in effluents from coke ovens, blast furnaces, and shale oil processing [1]. 

ALKYLPHENOLS from PHENOL iso-Butene 4-tert-Butylphenol... 

With the exception of 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol prepared from diisobutylene, all the mutti-branched alkylphenols discussed consist of isomeric mixtures. In the pursuance of structure/property interests several studies have aimed to synthesise pure compounds. Thus by Wurtz-type methodology the reaction of the isomeric chloroanisoles with (i) alkyl iodides in ethereal solution in the presene of sodium and (ii) demethylation of the resultant alkylanisoles with aluminium bromide, a range of C5, Cg and Cg alkylanisoles has been synthesised (ref. 14). Numerous other methods are available for the synthesis of the isomeric n-, iso-, sec- and tert-alkylphenols some of which are referred to in Chapter 13. Reaction of a mixture of the appropriate alkyl chloride and 2-,... 

E. Blanco, M.C. Casais, M.C. Mejuto and R. Cela, Approaches for the simultaneous extraction of tetrabromobisphenol A, tetrachlorobisphenol A and related phenolic compounds from sewage sludge and sediment samples based on matrix sohd-phase dispersion, J. Chromatogr. A, 78, 2772-2778, 2006. S. Takeda, A. Omura, K. Chayama, H. Tsuji, K. Fukushi, M. Yamane, S.-I. Wakida, S. Tsubota and S. Terabe, Separation and on-line concentration of bisphenol A and alkylphenols by micellar electrokinetic chromatography with cationic surfactant, J. Chromatogr. A, 979, 425-429, 2002. 

There are many examples in the literature of the structural characterization of polymeric systems by FD-MS. Some of these will be briefly mentioned here. Saito and coworkers in Japan have studied a number of polymers by FD-MS. FD spectra were used to identify various poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(pro-pylene glycol) initiators (water, ethyleneimine, glycerol, sorbitol, sucrose). Structures of bisphenol A-based epoxy resins were elucidated. The degree of methylation in methylol melamine resins was assessed. Various novalak resins (made from phenol, alkylphenols, and epoxidized phenols) were characterized. Styrene polymerized with various initiators and chain transfer agents was studied in some cases deuterium labeling was used to help... 

APE can be analyzed by capillary GC of derivatives (Table 7). The oligomer distribution is seen, along with fine stracture due to the small percentage of ort/ro-substituted phenol in the predominantly para-aLkylphenol from which the surfactant was made. 

The third family (c. in Figure 9.1) less widespread, derived from the alkylphenols, offers as with the succinimides several possibilities of modification to the ratio of hydrophilic and lipophilic groups. Mannich s reaction of the alkyl-phenols also provides additives for lubricating oils. 

Alkylphenols containing 3—12-carbon alkyl groups are produced from the corresponding alkenes under acid catalysis. Alkylphenols containing the methyl group were traditionally extracted from coal tar. Today they are produced by the alkylation of phenol with methanol. 

The solubihty of alkylphenols in water falls off precipitously as the number of carbons attached to the ring increases. They are generally soluble in common organic solvents acetone, alcohols, hydrocarbons, toluene. Solubihty in alcohols or heptane follows the generalization that "like dissolves like." The more polar the alkylphenol, the greater its solubihty in alcohols, but not in ahphatic hydrocarbons likewise with cresols and xylenols. The solubihty of an alkylphenol in a hydrocarbon solvent increases as the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain increases. High purity para substituted phenols, through Cg, can be obtained by crystallization from heptane. 

Several methods are available to supplement the phenol alkylations described above. Primary alkylphenols can be produced using the more traditional Friedel-Crafts reaction. Thus an -butylphenol can be synthesized direcdy from a butyl haUde, phenol, and mild Lewis acid catalyst. Alternatively, butyryl chloride can be used to acylate phenol producing a butyrophenone. Reduction with hydrazine (a Wolff-Kishner reduction) generates butylphenol. 

The versatility of this reaction is extended to a variety of aldehydes. The bisphenol derived from 2,6-di-/ f2 -butylphenol and furfural, (25) where R = furfuryl (13), is also used as an antioxidant. The utility of the 3,5-di-/ f2 -butyl-4-hydroxyben2yl moiety is evident in stabili2ets of all types (14), and its effectiveness has spurred investigations of derivatives of hindered alkylphenols to achieve better stahi1i2ing quaUties. Another example is the Michael addition of 2,6-di-/ f2 -butyl phenol to methyl acrylate. This reaction is carried out under basic conditions and yields methyl... 

Manufacture and Processing Alkylphenols of commercial importance are generally manufactured by the reaction of an alkene with phenol in the presence of an acid catalyst. The alkenes used vary from single species, such as isobutylene, to compHcated mixtures, such as propylene tetramer (dodecene). The alkene reacts with phenol to produce mono alkylphenols, dialkylphenols, and tri alkylphenols. The mono alkylphenols comprise 85% of all alkylphenol production. 

Most alkylphenols sold today require refinement. Distillation is by far the most common separation route. Multiple distillation tower separations are used to recover over 80% of the alkylphenol products in North America. Figure 4 shows a basic alkylphenol distillation train. Excess phenol is removed from the unrefined alkylphenol stream in the first tower. The by-products, which are less volatile than phenol but more volatile than the product, are removed in the second tower. The product comes off the third tower overhead while the heavy by-products come out the bottom. 

Unrefined alkylphenols are generally produced in the simple batch reactors described eadier. An alkene with between 8 and 12 carbon atoms reacts with phenol to produce a mixture of reactants, mono alkylphenols, and dialkylphenols. These mixtures usually do not free2e above 25 °C and so are Hquid at production and storage conditions. The product is generally used in the same factory or complex in which it is produced so shipment typically consists of pumping the material from the reactor to a storage tank. 

Raw-material costs are the largest cost items over the lifetime of a plant and typically make up between 40 and 90% of the total manufacturing cost. The placement of plants near production faciHties making alkenes and/or phenol is important to producers of alkylphenols. The raw-material costs are so important that a large fluctuation in a raw material price can drive a product from a reasonably profitable situation to a clearly unprofitable one. 

Di- and Triisobutylcncs. Diisobutylene [18923-87-0] and tnisobutylenes are prepared by heating the sulfuric acid extract of isobutylene from a separation process to about 90°C. A 90% yield containing 80% dimers and 20% trimers results. Use centers on the dimer, CgH, a mixture of 2,4,4-trimethylpentene-1 and -2. Most of the dimer-trimer mixture is added to the gasoline pool as an octane improver. The balance is used for alkylation of phenols to yield octylphenol, which in turn is ethoxylated or condensed with formaldehyde. The water-soluble ethoxylated phenols are used as surface-active agents in textiles, paints, caulks, and sealants (see Alkylphenols). 

ButylatedPhenols and Cresols. Butylated phenols and cresols, used primarily as oxidation inhibitors and chain terrninators, are manufactured by direct alkylation of the phenol using a wide variety of conditions and acid catalysts, including sulfuric acid, -toluenesulfonic acid, and sulfonic acid ion-exchange resins (110,111). By use of a small amount of catalyst and short residence times, the first-formed, ortho-alkylated products can be made to predominate. Eor the preparation of the 2,6-substituted products, aluminum phenoxides generated in situ from the phenol being alkylated are used as catalyst. Reaction conditions are controlled to minimise formation of the thermodynamically favored 4-substituted products (see Alkylphenols). The most commonly used is -/ fZ-butylphenol [98-54-4] for manufacture of phenoHc resins. The tert-huty group leaves only two rather than three active sites for condensation with formaldehyde and thus modifies the characteristics of the resin. 

Sources of Raw Materials. Coal tar results from the pyrolysis of coal (qv) and is obtained chiefly as a by-product in the manufacture of coke for the steel industry (see Coal, carbonization). Products recovered from the fractional distillation of coal tar have been the traditional organic raw material for the dye industry. Among the most important are ben2ene (qv), toluene (qv), xylene naphthalene (qv), anthracene, acenaphthene, pyrene, pyridine (qv), carba2ole, phenol (qv), and cresol (see also Alkylphenols Anthraquinone Xylenes and ethylbenzenes). 

With Phenols. The 2-hydroxylethyl aryl ethers are prepared from the reaction of ethylene oxide with phenols at elevated temperatures and pressures (78,79). 2-Phenoxyethyl alcohol is a perfume fixative. The water-soluble alkylphenol ethers of the higher poly(ethylene glycol)s are important surface-active agents. They are made by adding ethylene oxide to the alkylphenol at ca 200°C and 200—250 kPa (>2 atm), using sodium acetate or... 

Substituted phenols such as cresols, p-fcrf-butylphenol, / -phcnylphenol, resorcinol, and cardanol (derived from cashew nut shells) have also been used as precursors for phenolic resins. Alkylphenols with at least three carbons in the substituent lead to more hydrophobic phenolic resins that are compatible with many oils, natural resins, and rubbers.7 Such alkylphenolic resins are used as modifying and crosslinking agents for oil varnishes, as coatings and printing inks, and as antioxidants and stabilizers. Bisphenol-A (2,2-p-hydroxyphenylpropane),... 

Linear novolac resins prepared by reacting para-alkylphenols with paraformaldehyde are of interest for adhesive tackifiers. As expected for step-growth polymerization, the molecular weights and viscosities of such oligomers prepared in one exemplary study increased as the ratio of formaldehyde to para-nonylphenol was increased from 0.32 to 1.00.21 As is usually the case, however, these reactions were not carried out to full conversion, and the measured Mn of an oligomer prepared with an equimolar phenol-to-formaldehyde ratio was 1400 g/mol. Plots of apparent shear viscosity versus shear rate of these p-nonylphenol novolac resins showed non-Newtonian rheological behavior. 

Tetrahydrofuran has been reported to exhibit an absorption maximum at 280 nm (52,56), but several workers have shown that this band is not produced by the purified solvent (30,41,57). Oxidation products from THF have been invoked in order to account for the appearance of the 280-nm band in PVC films that are solvent-cast from THF in air (57. 581. However, in some reported cases (56,59), this band was undoubtedly produced, at least in part, by a phenolic antioxidant (2.6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol)(59) in the solvent. Since certain -alkylphenols have now been shown to be powerful photosensitizers for the dehydrochlorination of PVC (60), it is clear that antioxidant photosensitization might well have been responsible for some of the effects attributed previously (56) to THF alone. On the other hand, enhanced rates of photodegradation under air have also been observed for PVC films cast from purified THF (57), a result which has been ascribed to radical formation during the photooxidation of residual solvent (57,61). Rabek et al. (61) have shown that this photooxidation produces a-HOO-THF, a-HO-THF, and y-butyro-lactone, and they have found that the hydroperoxide product is an effective sensitizer for the photodehydrochlorination of PVC at X = 254 nm (61). 

Aryl alcohol oxidase from the ligninolytic fungus Pleurotus eryngii had a strong preference for benzylic and allylic alcohols, showing activity on phenyl-substituted benzyl, cinnamyl, naphthyl and 2,4-hexadien-l-ol [103,104]. Another aryl alcohol oxidase, vanillyl alcohol oxidase (VAO) from the ascomycete Penicillium simplicissimum catalyzed the oxidation of vanillyl alcohol and the demethylation of 4-(methoxymethyl)phenol to vanillin and 4-hydro-xybenzaldehyde. In addition, VAO also catalyzed deamination of vanillyl amine to vanillin, and hydroxylation and dehydrogenation of 4-alkylphenols. For the oxidation of 4-alkylphenol, the ratio between the alcohol and alkene product depended on the length and bulkiness of the alkyl side-chain [105,106]. 4-Ethylphenol and 4-propylphenol, were mainly converted to (R)-l-(4 -hydroxyphenyl) alcohols, whereas medium-chain 4-alkylphenols such as 4-butylphenol were converted to l-(4 -hydroxyphenyl)alkenes. 

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