The activity of a series of catalysts—specifically, a mesoporous zirconium oxide stabilized with silica (m-ZrO2–SiO2) and aluminum-modified mesoporous silicate (Al-MCM-41) with varying aluminum loadings—was evaluated in the alkylation of phenol with cyclohexene and cyclohexanol. Among the catalysts under study, the Al-MCM-41 sample with the lowest Si/Al molar ratio (10) exhibited the highest activity for the formation of C-alkylates. Using alcohols of different structures (isopropanol, tert-butanol, tert-pentanol, cyclopentanol, cyclohexanol, benzyl alcohol, and methoxybenzyl alcohol), it was shown that the nature of the alkylating agent affects both product distribution and regioselectivity (Al-MCM-41(10), 200°C, 2 MPa N2).
Roldugina et al. (Mon,) studied this question.