Methylation of polymethylbenzenesulfonic acids by hexamethylbenzene and pentamethylbenzenesulfonic acid in concentrated sulfuric acid
The methylation of a series of polymethylbenzenes (PoMB's) or their sulfonic acids by added hexamethylbenzene (HMB) and pentamethylbenzene-1-sulfonic acid (PeMB-1-S) as reagents in 95.5 and 98.4% H2SO4 as solvent has been studied under homogeneous conditions. HMB effects methylation of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzene-1-sulfonic acid (2,4,6-TrMB-1-S), 2,3,4,6-tetramethylbenzene-1-sulfonic acid (2,3,4,6-TeMB-1-S), and 2,3,5,6-TeMB-1-S, but not of the sulfonic acids of 1,3-dimethylbenzene (1,3-DMB), 1,2,3-TrMB, 1,2,4-TrMB, and 1,2,3,4-TeMB. PeMB-1-S is less reactive as methylating reagent than HMB. The observed substrate reactivity towards methylation by HMB was observed to decrease in the order [Formula: see text], and towards methylation by PeMB-1-S to decrease in the order [Formula: see text]. On the basis of a comparison of these orders of substrate reactivities with those predicted for the series of the PoMB-1-sulfonates and the corresponding PoMB's, it is concluded that the substrate species undergoing methylation are the PoMB's and not the corresponding sulfonates.