Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2011, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (3): 503-507.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol via Hydrogen Peroxide in Hydrophilic Triethylammonium Acetate Ionic Liquid

HU Xiao-ke, ZHU Liang-fang, GUO Bin, LIU Qiu-yuan, LI Gui-ying and HU Chang-wei*   

  1. Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, P. R. China
  • Received:2010-04-12 Revised:2010-09-27 Online:2011-05-25 Published:2011-04-29
  • Contact: HU Chang-wei E-mail:gchem@scu.edu.cn; chwehu@mail.sc.cninfo.net
  • Supported by:

    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.20502017, 20872102).

Abstract: A new Fenton-like system in a medium of hydrophilic triethylammonium type of ionic liquid(IL) was used for the hydroxylation of benzene to phenol. The triethylammonium acetate([Et3NH][CH3COO]) IL exhibited retardation performance for the decomposition of H2O2 and protection performance for the further oxidation of phenol, thus the yield and selectivity to phenol were promoted greatly. The acidity of the system was proved to be an important factor for the selectivity to phenol. The utilization of H2O2 and the selectivity to phenol, as well as the Turnover number(TON) of the catalyst were effectively enhanced by a benzene-[Et3NH][CH3COO] bi-phase system. The catalyst with [Et3NH][CH3COO] IL was recycled with stable catalytic performance.

Key words: Hydrophilic, Ionic liquid, Fenton-like, Hydroxylation