Novelties of heteropoly acid supported on clay: etherification of phenethyl alcohol with alkanols Original Research Article

Dodecatugstophosphoric acid, a heteropoly acid supported on K-10 which is a montmorillonite clay, has been found to be a very efficient and novel catalyst in comparison with several others in the etherification of phenethyl alcohol with a variety of alkanols. The reactions are 100% selective towards the formation of the ethers which aresignificantly used in the perfumery industry. The experimental data demonstrate that the chemisorption of phenethyl alcohol onto the catalytic site controls the overall rate of reaction for all etherification reactions with methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and isopentanol. An Eiley-Rideal type of mechanism prevails.