Theoretical and experimental analysis of capsule membrane phase transfer catalysis: selective alkaline hydrolysis of benzyl chloride to benzyl alcohol

Abstract

Intensification of and selectivity in multiphase reactions catalysed by phase transfer catalysts can be greatly improved by the use of the so-called capsule membrane-PTC (CM-PTC) technique in comparison with the L-L PTC. We report here the theoretical and experimental analysis of the CM-PTC and inverse CM-PTC for exclusively selective formation of benzyl alcohol from the alkaline hydrolysis of benzyl chloride. The theoretical analysis shows that it is possible to simultaneously measure the rate constant and equilibrium constant under certain conditions. The effects of speed of agitation, catalyst concentration, substrate concentration, nature of catalyst cation, membrane structure, nucleophile concentration, surface area for mass transfer and temperature on the rate of reaction are discussed.