Exploration of Chemical Oxidation of p-Cymene
The chemical oxidation of p-cymene was preliminarily studied by several oxidants. The conversion of p-cymene and selectivity of p-cymen-8-ol were both influenced by the factors such as dosage of oxidant, dosage of sulphuric acid, reaction time, reaction temperature and solvent variety. The reasonable oxidation conditions were molar ratio of p-cymene to potassium permanganate 1:3, molar ratio of sulphuric acid to potassium permanganate 0.13:1, mixture of water and acetic acid (1:1, v/v) as solvent, reaction temperature 80 °C and reaction time 9 h. The conversion of p-cymene and selectivity of p-cymen-8-ol were respectively 92.21 % and 69.65 % in the reasonable oxidation conditions. The by-products of p-cymene oxidation mainly included p-iso-propyl benzoic acid, p-isopropyl benzaldehyde and p-methyl acetophenone.