Spectroscopic Evidence for the Involvement of a Radical Intermediate in the Friedel-Crafts Benzylation Using Ion-Exchanged K10 Catalysts

For Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbons an ionic reaction path is considered as classical reaction mechanism. The alkylation with benzyl chloride in the presence of ion-exchanged K10 montmorillonite catalysts containing multivalent, reducible cations had an outstanding activity, therefore a radical initial step as a supplement to the ionic mechanism was proposed earlier. We made ESR investigations to clarify the existence and the nature of the suggested radical species. The ESR experiments verified that the reaction involves a radical step