1-Phenyl-1-propanol → beta-Methylstyrene

Compounds of Formula 1 readily catalyse the dehydration of olefins. Standard conditions were used to conduct these reactions. For example heating cyclohexanol in the presence of compounds of Formula 1 where R and R1 are hydrogen or R is hydrogen and R1 is a C1-40 alkyl, C2-40 alkenyl, C2-40 alkynyl, aryl or C1-8 alkylaryl fragment gave the desired cyclohexene. In a similar fashion treatment of 1-phenyl-1-propanol in toluene with catalysts of Formula 1 where R and R1 are hydrogen or R is hydrogen and R1 is a C1-40 alkyl, C2-40 alkenyl, C2-40 alkynyl, aryl or C1-18 alkylaryl fragment in toluene at 75° C. gave β-methyl styrene in greater than 90% yield. An advantage of this procedure is that the catalyst can simply be filtered off and reused without any apparent reduction in activity.