Liquid alkylated diphenylamine antioxidant

摘要

A process for monoalkylating diphenylamine using a clay catalyst is disclosed which results in a reaction product having substantial amounts of desirable monoalkylated diphenylamine and minimal amounts of less desirable disubstituted diphenylamine and unsubstituted diphenylamine. The disclosed process uses clay catalysts which favor monoalkylation over dialkylation and specific conditions such as reaction temperature, mole ratios of alkylating olefin to diphenylamine, reaction times, and catalyst amounts. Preferred olefins are diisobutylene and linear alpha olefins having from 6 or 8 to 18 carbon atoms. When more than 1 wt. % residual unreacted diphenylamine is present it may be converted to alkylated diphenylamine by reacting with styrene, alpha-methylstyrene or isobutylene.