Side-chain Alkylation of Toluene With Methanol over a Novel Solid Acid-base Catalyst

Abstract

A novel solid acid-base catalyst Cat-NH(CH3)2 with aluminum and nitrogen was prepared from phenol and formaldehyde by using the triblock copolymer Pluronic F127 as a template and resol as a catalyst precursor via evaporation induced by the organic–organic assembly method. The catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The base properties of the catalyst were determined by temperature programmed desorption using CO2 as a probe molecule. The side chain alkylation of toluene with methanol over the catalyst had been studied, the results showed that Cat-NH(CH3)2 has demonstrated a higher activity and selectivity than the alkali exchanged zeolites. This may be because the strength of the specific surface base sites of this catalyst is favored to bimolecular side-chain alkylation reaction.