An extremely active solid acid catalyst, nafion resin/silica composite, for the friedel-crafts benzylation of benzene and p-xylene with benzyl alcohol

摘要

Nafion resin, a recently developed Nafion resin/silica composite, and triflic acid are very effective catalysts for the Friedel-Crafts benzylation of benzene (at 80 deg C) and p-xylene (at 100 deg C) with p-methylbenzyl alcohol under ambient pressure. The composite is nearyl 2 orders of magnitude more active than plain nafion resin beads and even more active than the strong triflic acid based on the same amount of acid groups in the catalysts.