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The kinetics of the one-pot liquid-phase alkylation of guaiacol (G) with cyclohexanol (CHOL) at 383 K, 1 atm, and over Amberlyst 36 (a catalyst containing Brønsted acid sites) was studied using Langmuir–Hinshelwood–Hougen–Watson (LHHW) kinetic models. Initially, CHOL dehydrates into cyclohexene, which by O-alkylation with G forms cyclohexyl-2-methoxyphenyl ether (CHMPE) and by C-alkylation leads to cyclohexyl-2-methoxy phenol isomers (CHMP), valuable intermediates in Fine Chemistry. An appropriate model, with physical and statistical meaning, was successfully found for dimensioning a batch industrial reactor for producing valuable CHMP. The selected model indicates that the rate-limiting step of the dehydration of CHOL into cyclohexene (CH) is the surface chemical reaction involving a single acid site, whereas the rate-limiting step for the O-alkylation (considered reversible) and for the C-alkylation (assumed irreversible) is the surface chemical reaction between adsorbed G and CH. Additional experiments at different ratios of reactants were performed to validate the kinetic expression in other experimental conditions, and the catalytic results confirm the mechanism proposed.
Bertero et al. (Wed,) studied this question.