Interfacial Activity of Quaternary Salts as a Guide to Catalytic Performance in Phase-Transfer Catalysis

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo00296a030

The phase tranfer catalysed ethylation of deoxybenzoin has been studied in several solvents, using symmetrical quaternary ammonium bromides as catalysts.In all cases the reactivity passed through a maximum as the size of the catalyst increased.The catalysts were also found to reduce the interfacial tension between the phases - this effect also passing through a maximum as a function of catalyst size.A correlation was observed between the two parameters, such that those catalysts reducing interfacial tension most markedly were also the best catalysts.Therefore, interfacial tension can be a guide to catalytic activity in certain PTC systems.