Patent ID: 7015365

Claim:
A continuous process for forming a cycloalkylidene bisphenol, comprising: reacting an aromatic hydroxy compound and a cycloalkanone compound in the presence of a sulfonic acid type ion exchange resin catalyst and a promoter; wherein said cycloalkanone compound is selected from the group consisting of substituted and unsubstituted tricyclo[5.2.1.0 2,6 ]decanones, and 4-perhydrocumyl cyclohexanone, wherein a mole ratio of said aromatic hydroxy compound to said cycloalkanone is greater than or equal to about 20; wherein said sulfonic acid type ion exchange resin catalyst is crosslinked with greater than or equal to about 8 weight percent of divinylbenzene relative to an overall weight of said sulfonic acid type ion exchange resin catalyst, and has a catalytic activity after at least 100 hours of run time that is greater than or equal to about 70 percent of an initial catalytic activity that was measured after about 16 hours of run time; and wherein said promoter is selected from the group consisting of a mercaptan compound and a resorcinol compound; and forming the cycloalkylidene bisphenol having the formula: wherein [A] is a substituted or an unsubstituted aromatic group, R 1 –R 4 independently represent a hydrogen or a C 1 –C 12 hydrocarbyl group; and “a” and “b” are integers independently having values from 0 to 3.