Preparation of 1,3-bis(allyloxy)benzene under a new multi-site phase-transfer catalyst combined with ultrasonication – A kinetic study

• A new multi-site phase-transfer catalyst was used for allylation of resorcinol.
• Effect of ultrasound was studied in this reaction.
• Different electric power of 40 kHz ultrasound irradiation was tested.
• A suitable reaction mechanism was proposed for this reaction.

In the present work, kinetics of synthesis of 1,3-bis(allyloxy)benzene was successfully carried out by O-allylation of resorcinol with allyl bromide using aqueous potassium hydroxide and catalyzed by a new multi-site phase-transfer catalyst viz., 1,3,5,7-tetrabenzylhexamethylenetetraammonium tetrachloride, MPTC under ultrasonic (40 kHz, 300 W) assisted organic solvent condition. The pseudo first-order kinetic equation was applied to describe the overall reaction. Under ultrasound irradiation (40 kHz, 300 W) in a batch reactor, it shows that the overall reaction rate can be greatly enhanced to seven fold faster with ultrasound irradiation than without ultrasound. The present study provides a method to synthesize ethers by ultrasound assisted liquid–liquid phase-transfer catalysis condition.