| Abstract: | As the second part of a series of studies on the synthesis of n‐butyl phenyl ether (ROPh) by tri‐liquid‐phase catalysis, this work examines the factors affecting the reaction between n‐butyl bromide (RBr, organic substrate) and sodium phenolate (NaOPh, aqueous nucleophile) with poly(ethylene glycol)‐600 (PEG‐600) as a phase‐transfer catalyst. The reaction is performed in a batch reactor at 45–85 °C for 2 h while the agitation speed is fixed at 1000 rpm. Experimental results indicate that the individual mole fractions of NaOPh and PEG‐600 slightly affect the reaction, while the total amount of these components exerts significant influence. When the mole fraction of PEG‐600 is 0.5, the reaction rate and the conversion of RBr are the highest. No byproducts are formed in the course of the reaction. The system using a non‐polar organic solvent might obtain a higher conversion compared with a weakly polar one owing to a higher concentration of PEG‐600 in the third liquid phase. Furthermore, adding NaOH facilitates the reaction to obtain a higher reaction rate than adding other kinds of salt because the addition of a base results in the formation of a third liquid phase. The catalytic ability of PEG with average molecular weight of 600 gmol?1 is far higher than that with average molecular weight of 200, 400 and 1000 because PEG‐600 possesses an appropriate chain length which can tightly associate with Na+ to form the complex of PEG‐600‐Na+OPh? for reacting with RBr. In addition, this nucleophilic substitution reaction is found to be pseudo‐first‐order with respect to RBr. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry |
