Formation of N-methylaniline by transalkylation of aniline with N,N-dimethylaniline over zeolite Beta

The transalkylation of aniline (A) with N,N-dimethylaniline (NNDMA) over zeolite H-Beta is described. The reaction yields N-methylaniline (NMA) as the major product with other products such as toluidine (T), N-methyltoluidine (NMT) and N,N-dimethyltoluidine (NNDMT). Conversion of NNDMA and selectivity of different products depend on reaction parameters like temperature, feed ratio, space velocity, etc. The catalytic activity of H-Beta is compared with Cs and K exchanged Beta and other two large pore zeolites H-ZSM-12 and H-Y. H-Beta shows better performance compared to the other zeolites in terms of activity, stability and selectivity. Alkali cation exchange in H-Beta results in better selectivity towards NMA with less conversion and faster deactivation.