Ethyl benzene is generally prepared by acetylation of benzene followed by reduction and not by direct alkylation. Think of a possible reason.
Preparation of ethyl benzene from acylation of benzene and reduction can be shown as
The direct alkylation can not be performed because there is polysubstitution product is formed. Due to disadvantage of polysubstitution that Friedel-Craft's alkylation reaction is not used for preparation of alkylbenzenes. Instead of Friedel-Craft's acylation is used