61604-72-6Relevant academic research and scientific papers
Silica-supported sulfonic acids as recyclable catalyst for esterification of levulinic acid with stoichiometric amounts of alcohols
Maggi, Raimondo,Shiju, N. Raveendran,Santacroce, Veronica,Maestri, Giovanni,Bigi, Franca,Rothenberg, Gadi
, p. 2173 - 2180 (2016)
Converting biomass into value-added chemicals holds the key to sustainable long-term carbon resource management. In this context, levulinic acid, which is easily obtained from cellulose, is valuable since it can be transformed into a variety of industrially relevant fine chemicals. Here we present a simple protocol for the selective esterification of levulinic acid using solid acid catalysts. Silica supported sulfonic acid catalysts operate under mild conditions and give good conversion and selectivity with stoichiometric amounts of alcohols. The sulfonic acid groups are tethered to the support using organic tethers. These tethers may help in preventing the deactivation of the active sites in the presence of water.
Solvent-free transesterification of methyl levulinate and esterification of levulinic acid catalyzed by a homogeneous iron(III) dimer complex
Melchiorre, Massimo,Amendola, Raffaele,Benessere, Vincenzo,Cucciolito, Maria E.,Ruffo, Francesco,Esposito, Roberto
, (2020/01/25)
Levulinic acid esters MeC(O)CH2CH2CO2R (LAE) are emerging bio-based chemicals used as solvents, additives and plasticizers. In this work a variety of levulinates (R= n-butyl, n-hexyl, n-octyl, 2-ethylhexyl, geranyl, 2-ethoxyethyl, benzyl, 2-octyl, cyclohexyl, menthyl) is obtained from the solvent-free transesterification of methyl levulinate (ML) and esterification of levulinic acid (LA), catalyzed by a dimeric complex of iron(III). The results are competitive with the few related reports of literature mainly based on heterogeneous catalysis. This first systematic study based on a homogeneous catalytic system therefore represents a significant extension within the field of biomass valorization.
