Hydrothermal alkylation of phenols with alcohols in diluted acids

Abstract

Diluted acids (typically 0.05 M HCl) are shown to be very effective media to promote the alkylation of phenols with activated alcohols under hydrothermal conditions (from 150 to 200 °C). These results are an elegant alternative to “usual” Friedel-Crafts alkylations avoiding the use of alkylchlorides as alkylating agents and the use of Lewis acidic promoters or concentrated acids but also shade some light on the processes occurring during the hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) of biomass.