Cumene

Cumene, or isopropylbenzene, is an aromatic hydrocarbon consisting of a benzene ring bonded to an isopropyl group. It is a volatile, flammable liquid used chiefly to produce phenol and acetone.

Cumene process: An industrial process that converts cumene into phenol and acetone through oxidation followed by acid-catalyzed cleavage. Cumene is the feedstock whose oxidation creates the hydroperoxide intermediate in this process.
Phenol production: The industrial manufacture of phenol, largely based on oxidation and cleavage of cumene. Cumene supplies most of the feedstock for this dominant phenol-making route.
Benzene: A six-carbon aromatic hydrocarbon ring with formula C₆H₆. Cumene’s aromatic core is a benzene ring.
Ethylbenzene: An aromatic hydrocarbon consisting of a benzene ring bonded to an ethyl group. Its two-carbon side chain differs from cumene’s branched three-carbon substituent.
Cumene hydroperoxide: An organic peroxide formed by oxidizing cumene, used as an intermediate in phenol and acetone production. This is the key intermediate formed when cumene reacts with oxygen.
Bisphenol A: An industrial chemical made by condensing phenol with acetone, used to produce polycarbonate and epoxy resins. Cumene feeds the production of both reactants used to make bisphenol A.
Isopropyl group: A three-carbon substituent, (CH₃)₂CH–, derived from propane by removing a hydrogen from its middle carbon. This substituent is bonded directly to the benzene ring in cumene.
Propylbenzene: An aromatic hydrocarbon with a benzene ring bonded to a straight-chain propyl group. It has the same formula as cumene but an unbranched side chain.
Autoxidation: A chain reaction in which a substance reacts spontaneously with molecular oxygen, often through radical intermediates. Cumene’s conversion to its hydroperoxide is an industrially controlled autoxidation.
Polycarbonate: A family of durable thermoplastics containing carbonate linkages in their polymer chains. Phenol derived from cumene helps supply the bisphenol A used in polycarbonate manufacture.

Linked from 2 pages

PropyleneRelated: Propylene supplies the side chain in the alkylation step that makes cumene.