Efficacy of a novel mesoporous solid acid catalyst UDCaT-4 in liquid phase benzylation of naphthalene

Friedel-Crafts alkylations are important class of reactions in the production of chemicals of industrial relevance. In the current work, selective monobenzylation of naphthalene with benzyl chloride was achieved at 80 °C by using a novel mesoporous solid acid catalyst UDCaT-4 which is a hexagonal mesoporous silica incorporating persulfated alumina and zirconia. It is found that UDCaT-4 exhibit superior catalytic activity than persulfated alumina and zirconia. The catalyst is reusable. The reaction was 100% selective towards monobenzylated naphthalene without any dibenzylation. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood model with weak adsorption of reactants and products was found to validate the kinetics. The energy of activation is 26.0 kcal/mol.

Graphical abstractA novel mesoporous solid acid catalyst is synthesized and tested in the monobenzylation of naphthalene with 100% selectivity. Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide