Alkylation of anthracene with tert-amyl alcohol over boric acid-modified Fe-Zr mordenite catalyst

A fine-tuned mordenite was prepared to overcome the low selectivity of tert-amyl anthracene production in the direct alkylation of anthracene. Herein, a series of boric acid-modified Fe-Zr mordenite materials were prepared, and tert-amyl anthracene was smoothly and efficiently obtained over these catalysts. The boron sites in modified catalyst promoted the alcohol dehydrogenation, which benefited the reaction conversion. Moreover, the existence of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites was the key in alkylation reaction, making 1.0B-Fe-Zr/MOR good reactivity (Conv. 47.8%, Sel. 91.4%). Calculated results correlated the products properties with catalyst structures, verifying that boric acid-modified Fe-Zr/MOR was a successful shape-selective catalyst. The present work opens a new frontier for a sustainable and high-selective method to process anthracene alkylation. Graphical abstract