Verfahren zur Alkylierung von aromatischen Verbindungen

摘要

Hydrocarbons are reacted with an alkylating agent in the presence of a homogeneous catalyst comprising a reaction product of an aluminium halide and a divalent transition metal halide at -40 DEG to +200 DEG C. The preferred catalyst components are AlCl3 and CoCl2 in a molar ratio of greater than 2:1. Alkylatable hydrocarbons include benzene, cumene, naphthalene or an isoparaffin or cycloparaffin having more than 6 carbon atoms. The alkylating agent may be an olefin (e.g. ethylene, propylene, dodecene, propylene tetramer or hexene dimer) or an alkyl halide (e.g. sec or t butyl chloride). The alkylation may be effected in the absence or presence of an inert diluent such as cyclohexane or heptane. The reaction between the catalyst components may be carried out by refluxing suspensions thereof in a solvent such as cyclohexane, benzene or chlorobenzene.