title: Synthesis of p-xylene from ethylene.
abstract: As oil supplies dwindle, there is a growing need to develop new routes to chemical intermediates that utilize alternative feedstocks. We report here a synthesis of para-xylene, one of the highest volume chemicals derived from petroleum, using only ethylene as a feedstock. Ethylene is an attractive alternative feedstock, as it can be derived from renewable biomass resources or harnessed from large domestic shale gas deposits. The synthesis relies on the conversion of hexene (from trimerization of ethylene) to 2,4-hexadiene followed by a Diels-Alder reaction with ethylene to form 3,6-dimethylcyclohexene. This monoene is readily dehydrogenated to para-xylene uncontaminated by the ortho and meta isomers. We report here a selective synthesis of para-xylene, uncontaminated by the ortho or meta isomers, using ethylene as the sole feedstock.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3290, United States.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guironnet
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Findlater
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brookhart
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014992:Xylenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis*
chemical_list: D005030:Ethylenes; D014992:Xylenes; C031286:4-xylene; C036216:ethylene