para-cresol
Sign in to saveAlso known as 4-Cresol, p-Cresylic acid, 1-Hydroxy-4-methylbenzene, 4-Hydroxytoluene, 4-Methyl phenol, 4-methylphenol, p-methylphenol
'''para-Cresol, also 4-methylphenol', is an organic compound with the formula CH3C6H4(OH). It is a colourless solid that is widely used intermediate in the production of other chemicals. It is a derivative of phenol and is an isomer of o-cresol and m''-cresol.
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Production
- Applications
- Natural occurrences
- In humans
- In other species
- References
'''para-Cresol, also 4-methylphenol', is an organic compound with the formula CH3C6H4(OH). It is a colourless solid that is widely used intermediate in the production of other chemicals. It is a derivative of phenol and is an isomer of o-cresol and m-cresol.
==Production== Together with many other compounds, p-cresol is conventionally extracted from coal tar, the volatilized materials obtained in the roasting of coal to produce coke. This residue contains a few percent by weight of phenol and cresols. Industrially, p-cresol is currently prepared mainly by a two-step route beginning with the sulfonation of toluene: CH3C6H5 + H2SO4 → CH3C6H4SO3H + H2O Basic hydrolysis of the sulfonate salt gives the sodium salt of the cresol: CH3C6H4SO3H + 2 NaOH → CH3C6H4OH + Na2SO3 + H2O Other methods for the production of p-cresol include chlorination of toluene followed by hydrolysis. In the cymene-cresol process, toluene is alkylated with propene to give p-cymene, which can be oxidatively dealkylated in a manner similar to the cumene process.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “para-cresol” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.