Phenol → 4-n-Octylphenol

Participants

Reaction Steps

The reaction is performed discontinuously in a stirred flask equipped with contact thermometer and reflux condenser, under the conditions indicated in Table 1. The flask is charged with 90 g of a sulfonated polystyrene ion exchange resin in the H-form, crosslinked with divinylbenzene to an extent of 8% by weight and having an activity of 4.6 meg/g catalyst, and 282 g of phenol and 168 g of diisobutene (molar ratio phenol: diisobutene=2:1) and 9 g of water (2% by weight, based on the mixture of phenol-diisobutene) is added thereto. After a reaction period of 15 minutes, the crude product is separated from the catalyst by filtration and worked up by distillation in a manner known per se without any pretreatment, thus obtaining a p-octyl phenol having a very high degree of purity (setting point 80.2° C.).

Provenance & Evidence