Polyvinyl Sulfuric Acid: A Novel Solid Acid Catalyst for Preparation of Symmetrical Ethers and Theoretical Calculation

Abstract

In this paper, polyvinyl sulfuric acid as a novel solid acid was easily prepared by simple mixing of polyvinyl alcohol with chlorosulfonic acid at room temperature. The facile procedure for conversion of benzylic alcohols to the corresponding symmetrical ethers in the presence of this solid acid under solvent free conditions was investigated. Results showed that the solid acid was an appropriate catalytic agent for this condensation reaction. It also showed its ability to produce the products in short reaction times while having high isolated yields.Also theoretical calculation by DFT method with B3LYP using 6-31G** basis sets was done. Based on the calculation, Transition state is a primary carbocation that the positive charge is dispersed by the benzene ring. The dipole moment of transition state is 0.2226D and the total energy of produced carbonation is more than symmetrical ether and alcohol, as the results the produced carbocation via SN1 is an appropriate transition state.