Qualitative and quantitative characterization of a complex mixture of hexylbenzenes by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A considerable amount of byproducts is formed in the production of isopropylbenzene (cumene). Recently, a distillation fraction of these byproducts became commercially attractive which justified its compositional analysis. All the signals in the complex 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of this material have been assigned. The mass spectra of the individual constituents were recorded by the application of capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The data obtained with both analytical techniques revealed that the product is composed of a complex mixture of 3 isomeric diisopropylbenzenes and 10 different hexyl-substituted benzenes. The mass spectra and carbon-13 NMR chemical shift data of most of the compounds presented here have not been previously reported. NMR data of all possible butyl- and a number of pentyl-substituted benzenes are included in this report for assignment purposes. Quantitative studies on this material and some of its distillation fractions by 13C NMR and gas chromatography enabled the assignment of individual peaks in the gas chromatogram.