Synthesis of N-phenylphthalimide with Using Surfactants as Catalysts

N-phenylphthalimide was synthesized with using aniline and phthalic anhydride as the raw materials and surfactants as catalysts in the presence of hydro-solvent.Some key conditions of the synthesis of N-phenylphthalimide were investigated,such as the catalyst amount,ratio of aniline to phthalic anhydride and reaction time,etc.The results of experiments showed that using SDBS as catalyst could get the best catalytic activity,the optimum reaction conditions were obtained as follows: the molar ratio of aniline to phthalic anhydride was 1.1:1;the reaction time was 5h and the concentration of catalyst was 2%(based on the mass of solvent).Under these conditions,the yield of product was up to 93.8%,and the reusability of catalyst was excellent.