Highly active and reusable heterogeneous catalysts for acylation of anisole

Abstract

In the present study, non-conventional solid acid catalysts such as NaY, metal ion exchanged zeolite NaY (Zn2+, Fe3+, Ce3+, La3+ and Nd3+), H-mordenite, H-β and HZSM-5 were used in order to overcome the disadvantages of conventional Friedel-Crafts catalysts for the acylation of anisole with acetic anhydride. Among the various zeolites studied, the HY zeolite shows an intermediate activity. Zeolite containing transition metal ions (Zn2+ and Fe3+) are less active and zeolite NaY is nearly inactive. The catalysts exhibit the activity in the order H-β>transition metal ions (Zn2+ and Fe3+)>HY>NaY zeolite. The highest catalytic activity of H-β could be due to its larger pore size. The type of acidity and the acid strength in zeolite Y were determined by FTIR and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) studies on the pyridine adsorbed catalysts. The correlation of catalytic activity with acidity reveals that Bronsted acid sites in zeolite promote the acylation of anisole.