181 Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2004 ALKYLATION OF BENZENE WITH PROPYLENE ON ALUMINA PHENYL SILOXANE I. M. Kolesnikov, R. I. Guseinov, S. I. Kolesnikov, and V. A. Vinokurov UDC 547.542.97 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Translated from Khimiya i Tekhnologiya Topliv i Masel , No. 3, pp. 43  44, May  June, 2004. 0009-3092/04/40030181 Ó2004Plenum Publishing Corporation Isopropylbenzene (IPB), a high-octane component of gasoline, is obtained by alkylation of benzene with propylene. a -Methylstyrene, a rubber base, is obtained from IPB by dehydrogenation and phenol, used for treatment of petroleum oils, is obtained by oxidation. In industrial conditions, this process is conducted in the presence of a catalytic complex of aluminum chloride with polyisopropylbenzenes. This complex is a liquid that dissolves in a very small amount in the liquid reaction mixture [1, 2]. To increase the alkylation rate, it is dispersed in the liquid reaction mixture by bubbling propylene in the reactor. By mixing the reaction mixture and dispersing the catalytic complex, propylene participates in alkylation of benzene and intermediate products. However, the degree of dispersion of an emulsion of the catalytic complex in the liquid reaction mixture is low and consequently a small proportion, basically the near-surface layers of drops, is involved in the process. The moisture present in the benzene in the form of traces hydrolyzes the catalytic complex with formation of aluminum hydroxide or incomplete products of hydrolysis which did not participate in catalysis, and this causes loss of catalyst. It is best to conduct alkylation in conditions of dispersion (dissolution) of the catalyst in the liquid reaction mixture to the molecular level. This eliminates the possibility of diffusion inhibition of the process and the drawbacks inherent in the aluminum chloride complex with polyisopropylbenzenes. We investigated alkylation of benzene with propylene in the presence of alumina phenyl siloxane (APS)  a compound that totally dissolves in liquid aromatic hydrocarbons in any concentrations with formation of a thermodynamically stable solution on the molecular level. APS is formed in a double exchange reaction when sodium phenyldihydroxysilanolate reacts with anhydrous aluminum chloride in alcohol solution and has the following composition and structure:     + 2 & + 2+ 6L 2 $O 2+ 6L + &              This compound is a white powder. It is stored as a solution in alcohol or a liquid aromatic hydrocarbon (benzene, toluene, etc.). Condensation of the molecules of APS with respect to the hydroxyl groups with