Abstract: Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of crosslinked polystyrene (CPS) microspheres was conducted using two kinds of ω-chloroacyl chloride as reagents, and chloromethylation reaction of CPS microspheres was performed using 1,4-dichloromethyoxybutane without carcinogenic toxicity as reagent. By these reactions, exchangeable chlorine was introduced onto the surface of CPS microspheres and resulted in chemically modified CPS microspheres. Subsequently, the modified microspheres were transferred into quaternary phosphonium-type triphase catalysts via quaternary phosphonium (QP) reaction with triphenylphosphine. Three kinds of quaternary phosphonium-type triphase catalysts QP-CPS with different spacer arm lengths were obtained. The effects of main factors on quaternary phosphonium reaction were examined. The phase-transfer catalytic activity of the prepared triphase catalysts for esterification between benzyl chloride and sodium acetate was investigated. The results indicate that the stability of quaternary phosphonium is poor. The reaction temperature and time need to be controlled, and the solvent with higher polarity is adapted during synthesis. The prepared quaternary phosphonium-type triphase catalysts have higher activity for the synthesis of benzyl acetate, and the reaction species acetate ion can be effectively transferred between the liquid-solid-liquid phases. In comparison with quaternary ammonium-type catalyst QN-CPS, the quaternary phosphonium-type triphase catalyst QP-CPS has higher catalytic activity. The catalyst QP-CPS with a longer spacer arm has higher catalytic activity. The hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of catalyst QP-CPS also greatly affect the phase-transfer catalytic activity.

Key words: phase-transfer catalysis, triphase catalyst, quaternary phosphonium salt, polystyrene, benzyl acetate, spacer arm