Application of Experimental Design to the Reaction of o-Cresol with Cyclopentyl Chloride

Abstract

By means of Plackett-Burman design, variables of the reaction of o-cresol with cyclopentyl chloride in the presence of anhydrous
aluminium chloride as catalyst were screened. A 23 Yates pattern factorial design gave a mathematical equation to predict the yield of the
reaction. The variables chosen for the investigation were temperature, molar ratio of o-cresol to cyclopentyl chloride, amount of anhydrous
AlCl3 catalyst (% by wt. of o-cresol), addition time (ta h), stirring time, (ts h), stirring speed (rpm). Among these variables temperature,
molar ratio of o-cresol to cyclopentyl chloride and amount of anhydrous AlCl3 were found to be important. The critical response was the
yield of cyclopentylo-cresol. Main effects as well as two- and three-factor interaction effects were statistically significant. The adequacy of
the suggested model was checked up. The highest experimentally found yield was 72.2 % while the estimated yield was found to be 72.3 %.
The experimentally settings were temperature, 1400C; molar ratio of o-cresol to cyclopentyl chloride, 5:1; amount of the anhydrous
aluminium chloride, 5% by wt. of o-cresol; addition time, 2h and stirring time, 1 h.