Alpha-Methylstyrene → Cumene

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

In the next step, a stainless steel autoclave was charged with the total amount of the above wet cake, 0.35 g of 5% palladium-carbon, 5.9 g of α-methylstyrene and 100 ml of 2-ethylhexanol and the internal atmosphere was replaced with nitrogen gas. The mixture was reacted at 180° C. for 3 hours, then cooled to 150° C. and filtered to recover the insoluble catalyst. 2-Ethylhexanol, α-methylstyrene and cumene formed by the reaction were distilled off from the filtrate under reduced pressure to obtain 33.6 g of 4,4'-biphenol as white crystals. The product had a purity of 98.2% based on liquid chromatography and contained 1.2% of p-phenylphenol as impurities. The yield of 4,4'-biphenol converted to a purity basis was 89% based on 4,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)cyclohexanol.

Provenance & Evidence