Acetic Acid → P-Toluic Acid

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

In a 500-ml titanium autoclave equipped with a stirrer and a pressure gauge, 15.36 g of p-toluic acid, 104.0 g of acetic acid, 0.066 g of hexahydro-1,3,5-trihydroxy-1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-trione (1,3,5-trihydroxyisocyanuric acid) (0.33% by mole relative to p-toluic acid), 0.112 g of cobalt(II) acetate.4H2O and 0.277 g of manganese(II) acetate.4H2O were placed. The autoclave was charged with 2 MPa of oxygen gas and 2 MPa of nitrogen gas and placed in a heated oil bath. The mixture was stirred at 150° C. for 1 hour. After the completion of the reaction, the autoclave was placed on cold water to cool down the reaction mixture quickly. The resulting mixture was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography and was found to yield terephthalic acid in 63% yield at 68% conversion of p-toluic acid.

Provenance & Evidence