Study on catalytic synthesis of 1,3-benzodioxoles by HY zeolite

The acetalization and ketalization of various aldehydes and ketones with catechol by using HY zeolite as catalyst were studied. Effect of the reaction time, mole ratio of reactants, and amount of catalyst on the yield of benzodioxoles were investigated. Results show that HY is an efficient catalyst for the acetalization and ketalization with high conversion and selectivity in mild conditions. The best reaction conditions: molar ratio of catechol to aldehydes or ketones is 1:1.4, catalyst amount is 3.5 g/l mol catechol, reaction time is 5 h. Under these conditions, the conversion and selectivity were over 50% and 97%, respectively.