Alkylation of toluene with aliphatic alcohols and 1-octene catalyzed by cation-exchange resins

The catalytic activity of macroreticular cation-exchange resin (Amberlyst-15) was evaluated for the reaction of toluene with isopropanol, I-octanol, 2-octanol and l-octene at 80 degrees C, in the liquid phase. The best results were achieved with octene. The reaction yielded only monoalkylation products. The conversion of octene was 75% after 4 h of reaction. In the reaction with isopropanol the main product was propene. In the reaction with l-octanol and 2-octanol the conversion was very low and the main products were the octyl ethers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.