Para-selectivity in the alkylation of toluene with isopropanol on a MCM-41/γ-Al2O3 catalyst Original Research Article

Alkylation of toluene with isopropanol to produce isopropyltoluenes was investigated using a MCM-41 aluminosilicate as catalyst. The MCM-41/γ-Al2O3 catalyst presented mainly strong Lewis sties so that this material was activated by means of a liquid extraction method. It was observed that in the isopropylation of toluene, the isopropyltoluenes fraction contained more para isomer. This is due to the fact that MCM-41 materials contain relatively a few acid sites. In addition, the primary products of alkylation easily diffuse into the broad channels of this mesoporous framework.