Kinetic regularities of the interaction between styrene and formaldehyde catalyzed by sulfuric acid

The spectrophotometric method was used to study the kinetics of the interaction of styrene with formaldehyde in 10–40 wt % H₂SO₄ aqueous solutions at 25°C. The reaction of formation of the unsaturated alcohol was established to be reversible. The reaction was for the first time demonstrated to be of the first order with respect to monomeric formaldehyde (CH₂O). A mechanism of the reaction was proposed.