Photoxidation of ethylbenzene with air catalyzed by a polymer supported Rose Bengal photosensitizer

This paper deals with the liquid-phase photoxidation of ethylbenzene with air to give ethylbenzene hydroperoxide, irradiating with a 500W tungsten halogen lamp and using a polymer supported Rose Bengal photosensitizer, in a stirred tank reactor at atmospheric pressure. The effects of the temperature and the amount of supported photosensitizer on the ethylbenzene conversion and the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide selectivity and formation kinetic rate have been explored. Photochemically generated singlet oxygen is probably the active oxygen species in this oxidation reaction, although a thermal cleavage of the -O-O- bond of the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide present as a trace in the starting ethylbenzene should be also taken into account as a radical chain initiation mechanism. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.