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.