Bromine-Mediated Phenol Synthesis from Benzene

Abstract

Phenol was synthesized from the hydroxylation of bromobenzene, which was prapared by reacting benzene with bromine. In the benzene bromination reaction, HZSM-5 (Si/Al = 400/1) was found to be a stable catalyst, which catalyzed the stoichiometric reaction of benzene with bromine. More than 90% of bromobenzene selectivity was reached over HZSM-5 and the byproduct was dibromobenzenes. In the second reaction, bromobenzene reacted with a cataloreactant to form metal bromide and phenol. This is a catalytic as well as stoichiometric reaction between bromobenzene and the metal oxide. It was found that only the supported highly dispensed metal oxide was reactive to the bromobenzene hydroxylation reaction. In this investigation, 10mol%CuO/SiO2 was found to be the most active cataloreactant for bromobenzene hydroxylation reaction.