One-Pot Synthesis of Anthraquinone Catalyzed by Microwave Acetic Acid Modified Hβ Zeolite

Abstract

Hβ zeolite is modified in the microwave acetic acid and evaluated in the one-pot synthesis of anthraquinone from benzene and phthalic anhydride. Under the optimized conditions, the Hβ zeolite modified in 0.9 mol/L acetic acid solution exhibits the best catalytic activity, in which the conversion of phthalic anhydride and its selectivity to anthraquinone are 54.71% and 62.56%, respectively. A series of catalysts are characterized using BET, XRD, XRF, NH3-TPD, FT-IR, Py-IR, SEM, and XPS. The high activity is mainly attributed to the suitable acid strength. Increasing the specific surface area and pore volume fraction also promotes the reaction. On the other hand, the deposition of carbon atoms results in the deactivation of the catalyst. However, the catalytic activity can be effectively recovered by calcination regeneration, and still shows good catalytic activity after five times.