Abstract The alkylation of phenols is an effective method for synthesizing alkylphenols as important chemicals and key building blocks. Herein, we investigated the methylation of phenols over Ni/Fe2O3 as the catalyst with CH3OH as methylating agent. The catalyst was characterized by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, BET surface area, transmission electron microscopy, NH3-temperature-programmed desorption, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The effects of catalyst composition and feed, reaction temperature and time, and recycling times of the catalyst on the o-methylation were systematically examined. As a result, only o-xylenols were detected and their relative contents increase with time under the optimized conditions. The methylation was also used to convert crude phenols extracted from a low-temperature coal tar to value-added chemicals, and consequently mesitol and durenol were produced in total yields up to 99%. Pure mesitol and durenol were obtained after elution and their structures are confirmed by multiple analyses.

中文翻译：

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苯酚的催化邻甲基化反应及其在低温煤焦油中粗苯酚转化为甲基苯酚和杜勒醇的应用

摘要 苯酚的烷基化是合成作为重要化学品和关键构件的烷基苯酚的有效方法。在此，我们研究了以 Ni/Fe2O3 为催化剂、CH3OH 为甲基化剂的苯酚甲基化。通过激光烧蚀电感耦合等离子体质谱、BET 表面积、透射电子显微镜、NH3 程序升温脱附、X 射线衍射和 X 射线光电子能谱对该催化剂进行了表征。系统地研究了催化剂组成和进料、反应温度和时间以及催化剂循环次数对邻甲基化的影响。结果，在优化条件下，仅检测到邻二甲苯酚，并且它们的相对含量随时间增加。甲基化还用于将从低温煤焦油中提取的粗酚转化为具有附加值的化学品，因此生产的 mesitol 和 durenol 的总收率高达 99%。洗脱后得到纯的 mesitol 和 durenol，它们的结构通过多次分析得到证实。