Use of Ion-Exchange Resins in Alkylation Reactions

Important organic reactions require the use of catalysts in order to be industrially or academically applicable. Heterogeneous catalysts, in this context, show significant advantages over conventional homogeneous catalysts, especially with regard to separation of products from the reaction medium, recycling, and reuse. Ion-exchange resins are solid acid heterogeneous catalysts that play a key role in many useful reactions such as alkylation, esterification, etherification of olefins with alcohols, dehydration of alcohols to olefins or ethers, olefin hydration, and ester hydrolysis. Alkylation is the transfer of an alkyl group from one molecule to another, and is one of the most important catalytic processes of the chemical industries since it is widely applied in different areas such as fuels, cleaning products, and pharmacological products. This chapter presents a review of the use of ion-exchange resins in alkylation reactions on different substrates, highlighting the particularities of each case. First, definitions and classical industrial processes are discussed followed by an illustration of alkylation reactions in terms of mechanism, activity, and selectivity. Finally, the use of biomass derivatives in catalyzed alkylation reactions with ion-exchange resins is presented.