Ultrasonically promoted synthesis of N-benzylmorpholine under polymer-supported phase-transfer catalysis – a kinetic study

Abstract

Kinetics of synthesis of N-benzylmorpholine has been studied by carrying out the reaction of morpholine with benzyl bromide using aqueous potassium hydroxide and catalyzed by a newly synthesized polymer supported mono-site phase transfer catalyst viz., polymer supported N-benzyl-N-ethyl-N-isopropylpropan-2-aminium bromide (PSPTC) under ultrasonic (40 kHz, 300 W) assisted organic solvent conditions. The pseudo first-order kinetic equation has been applied to describe the overall reaction. Under ultrasonication (40 kHz, 300 W) in a batch reactor, the overall reaction rate has been observed to be greatly enhanced than that without ultrasound. The phenomenon for the dependence of the reaction rate on the amount of PSPTC and ultrasonication have been explained.