Synthesis of cyclohexyl acrylate with cation exchange resin as catalyst

Cyclohexyl acrylate is synthesized by the addition esterification of acrylic acid and cyclohexane with macroporous polystyrene sulfonate cation exchange resin as catalyst. The effects of reaction temperature, amount of catalysts, molar ratio of acid to alkene and reaction time on the conversion and selectivity are investigated. The results show that the optimum conditions are shown as follows: 85°C of the reaction temperature, 5% of the catalyst amount, 2:1 of the ratio of acid to alkene and 5 hours of reaction time. Under the optimal reaction condition, the conversion of cyclohexene reaches 87.2%. The selectivity of cyclohexyl acrylate and dimer is 90.1% and 8.7%, respectively.