Perhaps oxidation of toluene to benzoic acid with than decarboxylation to yeild benzene...
OR
transalkylation, I think they called it reverse friedal crafts, perhaps... using a strong lewis acid and careful distillation to yield benzene and dimethylbenzene, or other multi-methyl benzene derivatives.
Neither work all that well, and it is probably best to just buy sodium benzoate and heat with NaOH for producing benzene. However, despite the claims that the transalkylation sucks, which I am sure it does - I still like that idea.
OR
transalkylation, I think they called it reverse friedal crafts, perhaps... using a strong lewis acid and careful distillation to yield benzene and dimethylbenzene, or other multi-methyl benzene derivatives.
Neither work all that well, and it is probably best to just buy sodium benzoate and heat with NaOH for producing benzene. However, despite the claims that the transalkylation sucks, which I am sure it does - I still like that idea.