Selective Alkylation of Aniline With Methanol Over Boronsilicate Molecular Sieve

The selective alkylation of aniline with methanol catalyzed by boronsilicates was investigated. Correlation of acidity of ZSM-5, (B)ZSM-5 and ion-exchanged (B)ZSM-5's with the selectivity towards methylated anilines suggested that strong acid sites Tm600K, medium acid sites 450Tm600K, and weak acid sites (Tm450) are active sites to produce C-alkylate and coke, N, N-dimethyl aniline (NNDMA) and N-methyltoluidine (NMT), and N-methylaniline (NMA), respectively. However, Cu exchanged (B)ZSM-5 having only weak acid sites is selective to NMT and does not deactivate during the reaction.