Production of Resorcinol (1,3-Dihydroxybenzene) from Benzene
Resorcinol can be produced from benzene from different ways in the industry or laboratory. Production of resorcinol is an expensive process. 1,3-dinitrobenzene or 1,3-Diaminobenzene (1,3-Phenylenediamine) also can be used as raw materials to prepare resorcinol.
In this tutorial, both industrial and laboratory methods will be discussed.
Industrial production of resorcinol from benzene
Resorcinol can be produced in several steps from using benzene (C6H6) as a raw material, starting with dialkylation with propylene to give 1,3-diisopropylbenzene. Oxidation and Hock rearrangement of this disubstituted arene gives acetone and resorcinol as the products. Then a separation method is used to separate resorcinol from the product mixture.
Laboratory production of resorcinol
There are several ways to prepare resorcinol from benzene. One method is explained below.
Preparation of 1,3-dinitrobenzene
1,2-dinitrobenzene is prepared by the reaction of benzene with concentrated nitric acid in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is used as a catalyst and temperature should be around 550C.
Reduction of 1,3-dinitrobenzene to 1,3-Diaminobenzene
1,3-dinitrobenzene is reduced to 1,3-Diaminobenzene by Sn(Hg) / concentrated HCl and followed by dilute NaOH solution.
1,3-Diaminobenzene to resorcinol
1,3-Diaminobenzene is treated with nitrous acid to produce resorcinol.
