Alkylation of aniline over base zeolites

Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai-600 036, India

Manuscript received 2 November 1998, revised 16 May 2000, accepted 28 June 2000

Vapour phase alkylation of aniline with 2-propanol over Li, Na, K, Ca, Sr and Ba ion exchanged zeolites at atmospheric pressure gives N-alkylated and C-alkylated anilines. The N-alkylation selectivity increases with increase in basicity of the zeo­lite. The major product is the ortho-isomer. The effect of the basic nature of catalyst on the conversion and product selec­tivity has been evaluated. Co-existence of the acidic and basic sites in the alkali cation exchanged zeolites enhances the N-­alkylation rather than the ring alkylation.