Synthesis of p-tert-butyltoluene over PW/C catalyst

Tert-butylation of toluene was carried out with 12-tungstophosphoric acid supported C(PW/C) as catalyst and cyclohexane as solvent in a 100 mL stainless steel batch reactor equipped with a stirrer.Their physicochemical properties,such as the dispersion of PW,specific surface area,pore structure,and acidity were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),temperature programmed desorption of ammonia(NH3-TPD),the mogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry(TG-DSC).When the PW loading was as high as 30%,PW could be highly dispersed on the surface of C.It was found that,when using 30% PW/C as the catalyst,40.89% conversion of toluene and 77.54% selectivity of p-tert-butyltoluene were obtained under following optimal conditions: calcination temperature of catalyst was 350 ℃,reaction temperature was 160 ℃,reaction time was 3 h,initial pressure was 0.6 MPa,molar ratio of tert-butyl alcohol to toluene was 2∶1,and mass ratio of w(reactant)/w(catalyst) was 5.