Intensification of Cyclopentadiene Dimerization by Ultrasound Irradiation

Cyclopentadiene and isoprene are produced in large quantities by the steam cracking of naphtha and gas oils to produce ethylene. At room temperature, cyclopentadiene slowly dimerizes in a Diels‐Alder reaction to give dicyclopentadiene. This work presents a new method for accelerating the Diels‐Alder reaction in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation under ambient conditions. The effects of various reaction conditions such as ultrasonic reaction time and reaction temperature on cyclopentadiene dimerization and oligomerization of cyclopentadiene and isoprene were investigated. The results showed that the two reactions could be significantly enhanced by ultrasonic irradiation. The kinetic results revealed that the introduction of ultrasonic irradiation lowered the activation energy of both reactions, but not to the same degree. The increased difference in activation energy between the two reactions is the driving force to produce more dicyclopentadiene in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation.