Effect of reaction temperature on the alkylation of aniline by methanolover almost neutral zeolites LiY and NaY

The alkylation of aniline by methanol is carried out at 623–723K over LiYand NaY non-protonic and non-basic zeolites to study the effect of reaction temperature on the catalytic activity and the selectivity. The reaction temperature influences strongly the aniline conversion, the selectivity and the catalyst life. Two type of products are observed, C- or N- alkylates whether the alkylation takes place on the ring or on the N atom. A general trend is that as the reaction temperature increases the catalytic activity and selectivity of N-alkylation increase while the selectivity of C-alkylation decreases. The IR results of benzene adsorption have been used to try to explain the catalytic properties of these two catalysts.