Bisphenol E Decomposition in High-Temperature Water

Bisphenol E decomposes in high-temperature liquid water to form 4-vinylphenol plus phenol as primary products. 4-Vinylphenol can react further to form 4-ethylphenol and, presumably, vinylphenol oligomers. Phenol is always the major product within the parameter space (250-350 °C) explored experimentally. The decomposition, which follows global first-order kinetics, is essentially complete at 350 °C after 60 min. We developed a quantitative kinetics model that provides a faithful correlation of the effects of temperature and reaction time on the yields of unreacted bisphenol E and the reaction products.