Benzene → Dodecylbenzene

Participants

Reaction Steps

8.4 Grams of hexenes (containing 90% n-hexenes and 10% methyl-pentenes) was reacted with 17 mgs of nickel bis(2-ethyl hexanoate), 13 mgs of tributyl phosphite and 64 mgs of ethyl aluminum dichloride in 0.8 g of chlorobenzene. After two hours of reaction at between 35 and 45C, 57% of the hexenes were converted to products which contained 90% dodecenes. 78% of those dodecenes had linear or mono-branched structures. The unreacted starting material consisted of 86% n-hexenes and 14% methyl-pentenes, indicating only a very slight preference by the catalyst for dimerizing the linear olefins. As in Example 1, alkylation of benzene with this dodecene mixture using HF catalyst resulted in a 95+ % yield of dodecylbenzene, with less than 1% loss due to olefin fragmentation.

Provenance & Evidence