Development of the technique for quality control of 1,3-bis(3,4-dicyanophenoxy)benzene by HPLC

Abstract

Objectives. Determination of target products and byproducts is necessary for the quality control of phthalonitrile monomer synthesis as well as production scaling and performing related kinetic studies. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a simple and affordable method for quantitative chemical analysis, which also verifies the quality of raw materials. The objective of this study was to develop an HPLC technique for determining the composition of the reaction mixture in the synthesis of 1,3-bis(3,4-dicyanophenoxy)benzene (DPB).Methods. Reversed-phase HPLC was used to quantitatively analyze the reaction mixture.Results. A simple and rapid method for the quantitative HPLC analysis of phthalonitrile monomers and their mixtures with reagents was developed. Reaction times and the accumulation of byproducts were also studied.Conclusions. The successful performance of the developed technique allows us to recommend it for practical applications. The results obtained for reactors of different sizes have good convergence, and DPB synthesis was successfully scaled up to intermediate scale equipment.