Abstract
For Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbons an ionic reaction path is considered as classical reaction mechanism. The alkylation with benzyl chloride in the presence of ion-exchanged K10 montmorillonite catalysts containing multivalent, reducible cations had an outstanding activity, therefore a radical initial step as a supplement to the ionic mechanism was proposed earlier. We made ESR investigations to clarify the existence and the nature of the suggested radical species. The ESR experiments verified that the reaction involves a radical step.
Highlights
Friedel-Crafts reaction is one of the most important reactions of organic chemistry and chemical industry [1, 2]
We investigated in detail the alkylation of benzene and toluene with benzyl alcohol as well as benzyl chloride, using ion-exchanged K10 clays as catalysts [5]
The kinetic evaluation of the reactions showed that using benzyl alcohol as alkylating agent the initial reaction rate was proportional to the Brønsted acidity of the catalysts, but in the case of benzyl chloride there was no correlation between the reaction rate and neither the Brønsted, nor the Lewis acidity
Summary
Friedel-Crafts reaction is one of the most important reactions of organic chemistry and chemical industry [1, 2]. The alkylation with benzyl chloride in the presence of ion-exchanged K10 montmorillonite catalysts containing multivalent, reducible cations had an outstanding activity, a radical initial step as a supplement to the ionic mechanism was proposed earlier. The ESR experiments verified that the reaction involves a radical step. Keywords Friedel-Crafts alkylation, benzylation, radical step, ESR spectroscopy
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