Abstract

This work reports environmentally benign route for the hydroarylation of styrene with p-cresol for the synthesis of 4-methyl-2-(1-phenylethyl)phenol. The Montmorillonite K-10 was found to be stable, active, economical and recyclable catalyst for the hydroarylation reaction. The catalyst is well characterized with various techniques like XRD, SEM, EDAX, BET surface area, TPD-TPR and TGA. The effect of different reaction parameters like speed of agitation, catalyst loading, mole ratio and temperature was investigated. Furthermore, a second order rate equation was developed to describe the reaction kinetics and validated with experimental results. The activation energy was found to be 45.48 kcal/mol.

Keywords: Hydroarylation, heterogeneous catalysis, kinetics, montmorillonite K-10, styrene, p-Cresol.