Synthesis of novel polymer as solid acid-base catalyst for styrene from toluene

Abstract

A novel solid acid-base catalyst Cat-NH2C2H4NH2 with aluminum and nitrogen was prepared from phenol and formaldehyde by using triblock copolymer Pluronic F127 as a template and resol as a catalyst precursor via evaporation induced organic-organic assembly method. The catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). The acid-base properties of the catalyst were determined by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) using CO2 and NH3 as probe molecules. The side chain alkylation of toluene with methanol over the catalysts had been studied. The results showed that Cat-NH2C2H4NH2 has demonstrated the higher activity and selectivity than the conventional alkali exchanged zeolites. This may be because that the weak or middle acid-base pairs on the catalyst are favored to bimolecular side-chain alkylation reaction.