Phenol → Diphenyl carbonate

Participants

Reaction Steps

A mixture of 75 g/h of methyl phenyl carbonate, 175 g/h of phenol and 3 g/h of octylstannonic acid was continuously fed into this reactor at the feeding point above the sieve-point column. At the same time, a gentle nitrogen stream of 2 [1.h-1 ] from the spiral tube evaporator was passed in the opposite direction to this starting material stream. After establishment of constant conditions, at the head of the apparatus, 195 g/h of a mixture of 2.2% by weight of methanol, 13.7% by weight of dimethyl carbonate and 84.1% by weight of phenol were continuously withdrawn, and at the foot of the column, 61 g/h of a mixture of 1.5% by weight of phenol, 0.9% by weight of methyl phenyl carbonate and 97.6% by weight of diphenyl carbonate were continuously withdrawn. This represented a space-time yield for the formation of diphenyl carbonate of 0.06 g/mlh, based on the reactor volume. 18.6% of the methyl phenyl carbonate used reacted with phenol, transesterifying to form diphenyl carbonate. The selectivity of the formation of diphenyl carbonate was >99.9%, that is no by-products could be detected.

Provenance & Evidence