Abstract
The alkylation of phenols is an effective method for synthesizing alkylphenols as important chemicals and key building blocks. Herein, we investigated the methylation of phenols over Ni/Fe2O3 as the catalyst with CH3OH as methylating agent. The catalyst was characterized by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, BET surface area, transmission electron microscopy, NH3-temperature-programmed desorption, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The effects of catalyst composition and feed, reaction temperature and time, and recycling times of the catalyst on the o-methylation were systematically examined. As a result, only o-xylenols were detected and their relative contents increase with time under the optimized conditions. The methylation was also used to convert crude phenols extracted from a low-temperature coal tar to value-added chemicals, and consequently mesitol and durenol were produced in total yields up to 99%. Pure mesitol and durenol were obtained after elution and their structures are confirmed by multiple analyses.
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