Clean Synthesis Of 9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene

9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene (BHPF) is one type of bisphenol fluorene compounds with cardo skeleton whitch is one kind of useful monomers or modifies for the preparation of high- performance polycondensation products such as epoxy resins, polycarbonates, polyesters and polyethers due to the unique properties of cardo rings such as thermal stability. The polymers obtained from bisphenol fluorene have been found to exhibit desirable complex characteristics such as thermal stability, high transparency, high-refractive index and insulation, which make them useful in the application in aerospace, electro-optics, electronic, automotive and related industries. Relevant examples included but are not limited to: aircraft structure articles, flame-retardant laminates, heat-resistant adhesives, high-temperature coatings, photoelectric conductors, fiber optics and films.However, a lot of wastewater with high concentrated phenol, mordant acids and methyl alcohol was produced in the synthesis process of 9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene, and a lot of crystallization mother liquor was produced in the process of re-cystallising crude product. The serious drawback of these wastewater is the heavy environmental pollution. In this paper, according to the theory and thinking pattern of cleaner production, a new cleaner synthesis craft of BHPF is presented. The traditional catalyst is substituted by strong acidic cation exchange resin, methyl alcohol solution is substituted by boiling water, the wastewater produced was dealed with liquid-liquid extraction, azeotropic distillation and distillation, the effective component was recovered and the problem of discharging wastewater was revolved. The cleaner synthesis of 9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene was achieved.9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene was synthesized from fluorenone and phenol in the presence of different catalyzer. The synthesis conditions were optimized and the chemical structures of the obtained products were characterized by FTIR, NMR and MS respectively.. The conditions of descaling phenol and re-cystallising crude product were alse reserved, and boiling water and toluene were selected as more excellent solvent at the end.9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene was synthesized from fluorenone and phenol in the presence of strong acidic cation exchange resin Amberlyst 121 under process conditions that the molar ratio of phenol to fluorenone was 8 to 1, the mass percentage of catalyst was 15% of the total reagents, quantity of the co-catalystβ-mercaptopropionic acid was 0.2mL, reaction temperature was 105℃, and reaction time was 8h. The mass percentage and yield of 9,9-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene reached 99.88%, 86.9%.The high phenol-concentrated wastewater was separated and recovered by liquid-liquid extraction, and the concentration of phenol (6.14g/L) in the aqueous phase could be reduced to 0.30g/L or from 17.42g/L to 0.41g/L after extraction with butyl acetate.The high phenol-concentrated wastewater was separated and recovered by azeotropic distillation with tuloene, and the optimal distillation conditions were optimized. The concentration of phenol (6.14g/L) in the aqueous phase could be reduced to 0.090g/L in the azeotropic process.Extractant, annealed solvent and entrainer were recovered by distillation, the percent recovery of butyl acetate, benzene and toluene was 98.0%, 95.4%, 85.0%～90.0% respectively, which can all be reused.