testimento - 30-1-2014 at 11:49
I didn't find any decent entries for this substance, but I'd be most interested to find out how this could be made, preferably from xylene? One route
I found is to oxidize xylene with KMnO4, and another one in industry uses catalysis, compressed air and acetic acid, but this has the risk of going
into terepthalic acid. On the other hand, if terepthalic acid could be obtained easily, it could be used for it too.
Boffis - 30-1-2014 at 17:56
Toluic acid comes in 3 isomers 2, 3 and 4 methylbenzoic acids. Which one are you after? I think it would be difficult to do this because once you have
oxidized one methyl group to a carboxylic acid group the increased solubility of the compound in the aqueous phase would make it more vulnerable to
further oxidation making the reaction difficult to stop at the mono acid.
A better route may be from the appropriate toluidine, via the diazo compound to the nitrile and then hydrolysis. There are various alternative routes
depending on what chemicals you have access to.
testimento - 31-1-2014 at 07:04
Well Im going to use toluic acid to make toluene. So essentially all methods that can be used to make toluene are welcome. I'm also interested in
benzoate or benzoic compounds since they can be very easily pyrolyzed into benzene which I also want to synthetize.
The chemicals styrene and xylene are easily available for me, but toluene and benzene are not available to general public for some reason.
ScienceSquirrel - 31-1-2014 at 07:11
Try having a look round your local DIY shop or contact a garage that caters for rally drivers.
It is commonly used as a solvent and to 'pep up' petrol for high performance cars.
testimento - 31-1-2014 at 07:14
Believe me, I've looked for it for a year now, through all MSDS and even govt' databases and commercial supplies. Industry does it, and yes, there are
some additions but their price is something like 50 to 100 per liter so ugh..
Secondly I'm interested in the theory part of aromatics, so even if I'd get toluene in barrels otc, I'd like to know how it, benzoics and benzoates
are made. Toluene should be able to be oxidized into phenol too, and I'm not wary of this synthesis neither. 
Hoffnung - 31-1-2014 at 11:17
Take a look at this:
http://www.orgsyn.org/Content/pdfs/procedures/CV3P0822.pdf
You should start from cymene, in that case.
Another method from xylene is bubbling oxygen and a salt of manganese or other metals should be used. Here is just mentioned:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01173a056
It mentions 56% yield, but it also points you can also use the nitric acid method from above, with lower yields.
Toluene to phenol? 1) Oxidation to benzoic acid.
2) Decarboxylation to benzene.
3) Benzene oxydation to phenol. http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/chemistry/carey/student/olc/ch24...
All the steps are already made and well-explained separately in this forum. Look it up.