Interaction | Reaction | Process     Data Page

Benzene can be alkylated to ethyl benzene with ethylene, hydrogen chloride and an aluminium chloride catalyst.

HCl adds to the ethylene to give ethyl chloride.

The aluminium chloride abstracts Cl– form the ethyl chloride to give the reactive carbenium ion, CH3CH2+, which undergoes an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction with benzene to give ethyl benzene and H+.

The H+ interacts with the [AlCl4]– to regenerate HCl and AlCl3.

Industrial Organic Chemistry, 3rd. Ed. K. Weissermel, H.-J. Arpe, VCH (1997)
  +  
H2C=CH2
  +  
HCl
  +  
AlCl3
         
Reactant Page Go To Go To
Benzene     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Ethylene     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Hydrogen chloride Catalyst    Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Aluminium chloride Catalyst    Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Ethylbenzene     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming

Interaction, Reaction, Process defined as:
Addition: Electrophilic
British A-Level Chemistry: A2
Industrial Process: Organic
Multistep: LA/B mechanism
Substitution: Electrophilic Aromatic
Substitution: Electrophilic Second Order

© Mark R. Leach 1999 –

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