Continuous syntheses of octyl phenol or nonane phenol on supported heteropoly acid catalysts Original Research Article

A series of supported heteropoly acid catalysts of HnXW12O40/support (X=Si, P; supports are SiO2, γ-Al2O3 and diatomaceous earth (DE)) have been studied in the heterogeneous alkylation reactions of 1-octene or nonene with phenol at 353–393 K. Under the conditions of alkene/phenol=1/1.34 (mole ratio) and LHSV (F0/V)=0.57 h−1, the catalytic activity order of these catalysts was HnXW12O40/SiO2>HnXW12O40/γ-Al2O3>HnXW12O40/DE>SiO2>γ-Al2O3>DE. The selectivity of catalyst of H4SiW12O40/SiO2 was 90% for p-alkyl phenol and 10% for o-alkyl phenol. At 393 K and F0/V=0.57 h−1, the reaction of nonene with phenol on catalyst of H4SiW12O40/SiO2 was executed in continuous-running for 400 h, so the conversion of nonene was above 90%. For the heterogeneous alkylation reactions of 1-octene or nonene with phenol, H4SiW12O40/SiO2 and H3PW12O40/SiO2 are excellent supported solid acid catalysts.