The vapor phase tert-Butylation of anisole with tert-butanol reaction over nickel mesoporous catalysts

Nickel mesoporous materials with different Si/Ni ratios = 85, 55, 15 have been synthesized by intercalating kanemite using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMABr) as the intercalating agent and nickel nitrate as the nickel source. The resulting samples were characterized by means of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) technique, XRD, BET and a temperature-programmed-desorption (TPD) of pyridine. The effect of the Si/Ni molar ratio on the textural properties of Ni-FSM-16 was investigated. The results reveal that the Ni-FSM-16 samples were successfully synthesized. The catalytic performance was examined in the vapor phase tert-butylation of anisole with tert-butanol at the temperatures between 423 and 523 K under atmospheric pressure. The results indicate that the sample Ni-FSM-16 (15) was more active than other catalysts of this series. The major products of alkylation were 4-tert-butyl anisole (4-TBA), 2-tert-butyl anisole (2-TBA), and 2,4 di-tert-butyl-anisole (2,4-DTBA). The maximum conversion of anisole is observed at 473 K and it decreased further with increasing temperature. The influence of molar ratio, temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and time on stream on the selectivity of products was investigated and the results are discussed.