Amino benzoic acid modified silica—An improved catalyst for the mono-substituted product in the benzylation of toluene with benzyl chloride

Iron and 4-(methylamino)benzoic acid have been successfully incorporated into silica extracted from rice husk. The silica/Fe/amine complex, RH–Fe(5% amine), showed a ca. 24% increase in specific surface area compared to RH–Fe. This increase was attributed to the templated formation of regular pores. The XRD showed the RH–Fe(5% amine) to be amorphous. The Friedel–Crafts benzylation reaction with toluene using RH–Fe(5% amine) showed a drastic reduction in the di-substituted products to ca. 1.0%.

Graphical abstractThe amine modified silica–iron catalyst, RH–Fe(5% amine) resulted in a significant reduction of the di-substituted product in the benzylation of toluene with benzyl chloride. This is a significant improvement over the previously reported catalyst RHA–Fe.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide