Transformations of acetophenone and its derivatives in supercritical fluid isopropanol/CO2 in a continuous flow reactor in the presence of alumina

Acetophenone and its derivatives undergo various transformations in binary supercritical solvent isopropanol/CO2 in a flow reactor in the presence of granulated Al2O3. Depending on the reaction temperature, respective secondary alcohols, or isopropyl ethers, or substituted styrenes are formed at contact times of ∼4 min. Selectivity for the reaction products attains 96% at high conversion of initial compounds. It was shown that the nature of a substituent in ketone aromatic ring exerts primary effect both on the conversion of initial compounds and on stability of intermediates under reaction conditions, and thus affects the end product distribution.