Bifunctional catalysts supported on polymers for the preparation of Bisphenol A

This work is relative to attempts for obtaining acid‐thiol supported polymers that may be used as solid bifunctional catalysts, active in the Bisphenol A synthesis. Five approaches are tested with modified sulphonic styrene‐based polymers obtained either by multi‐polymerisation in one or several steps and derivatization. The objective is to get simultaneously sufficient capacity and high selectivity, by using an adequate acid/thiol ratio, and enhanced sites accessibility via an optimisation of the morphology. Reactivity results are favourably compared to those obtained in a homogeneous process.