t-Butylation of 1,2-dihydroxybenzene over mesoporous solid acid catalysts

t-Butylation of 1,2-dihydroxubenzene (DHB) with isobutene as alkylating agent was carried out over Zn-Al-MCM-41(TIE, template ion-exchange) and Zn-Al-MCM-41(HT, hydrothermal) with different Si/(Zn+Al) catalysts to highly selective synthesis of 4-t-butylcatechol. For the reactions, the influences of various reaction parameters such as different catalysts, reaction temperature, WHSV (weight hourly space velocity), reactant molar ratio are discussed. The selectivity of 4-t-butylcatechol in Zn-Al-MCM-41 (75)-TIE is higher than that of other Zn-Al-MCM-41(TIE) and Zn-Al-MCM-41 (HT) due to increasing the catalytic activity within pores on the silica surface by completely template ion-exchanging through metal-ions under TIE method. Thus a Zn-Al-MCM-41(75)-TIE catalyst is the superior catalyst for the synthesis of 4-t-butylcatechol.