Production of diphenyl ether compound

Abstract

Abstract PURPOSE:To produce the titled compound which is an organic chemical useful as a raw material of perfumery, heat transfer medium, etc., directly from a phenolic compound in vapor phase, in high selectivity, by using titanium oxide or zirconium oxide as a catalyst. CONSTITUTION:The objective compound can be prepared by contacting the phenolic compound of formula (R<1> and R<5> are H or lower alkyl), e.g. phenol, 2,3- xylenol, etc. with a catalyst comprising titanium oxide (preferably anatase-type titanium dioxide) or zirconium oxide, in vapor phase at 250-500 deg.C, preferably 350- 450 deg.C. The contact of the raw material with the catalyst is carried out e.g. by filling the catalyst in a reactor, and introducing the vapor of the heated and evaporated raw material into the reactor. The side reactions can be suppressed when steam is present together with the phenolic compound in the system. The presence of hydrogen in the system elongates the life of the catalyst.

Inventors

• 👤 Katsuo Taniguchi
• 👤 谷口　捷生
• 👤 Terunori Fujita
• 👤 照典 藤田

Bibliographic Details