Abstract: In order to solve the pollution problem of the traditional production process of 2-alkylanthraquinone-phthalic anhydride method, a new technical route of 2-alkylanthraquinone production by oxidation of 2-alkylanthracene was developed. The 2-alkylanthracene could be oxidized into 2-alkylanthraquinone in a H₂O₂/HCl system. The main product was confirmed as 2-alkylanthraquinone by GC-MS and NMR, and the by-products were 1-chloroderivative and 2-chloroderivative of 2-alkylanthracene. The reaction mechanism was studied, and the oxidation active substance including HClO and ¹O₂ were confirmed. The effects of different solvents, reaction time, the molar ratio of H₂O₂ and 2-alkylanthracene, the molar ratio of HCl and 2-alkylanthracene, the mass fraction of water [w(H₂O)], the mass concentration of 2-alkylanthracene [ρ(R-AN)] were investigated. Based on the theory of Support Vector Regression (SVR), a yield prediction model was established. The prediction effect of the model was good and the relative error was mostly within 1.5%. The optimum process conditions of oxidation at atmospheric pressure and reaction temperature 70 ℃ were determined as follows: n(H₂O₂)/n(R-AN)＝5, n(HCl)/n(R-AN)＝5, w(H₂O)＝8%, ρ(R-AN)＝0.04 g/mL. When reaction time was 8 h, the yield of 2-alkylanthraquinone was more than 98%.

Key words: 2-alkylanthracene, oxidation, hydrogen peroxide, 2-alkylanthraquinone, support vector regression