P-Xylene → Methyl 4-methylbenzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,755 and the corresponding German Offenlegungsschrift P2244662.4 disclose a method of producing dimethyl terephthalate from high-boiling tarry residues resulting from the combined oxidation of p-xylene and methyl p-toluate with air, esterification of the resulting acids with methanol and after-treatment of the esterification reaction product, which comprises treating the high-boiling residues with methanol at a temperature above 250° C., and thereafter separating the resulting dimethyl terephthalate in accordance with conventional separation techniques.

Provenance & Evidence