Silica-supported sulfonic acids as recyclable catalyst for esterification of levulinic acid with stoichiometric amounts of alcohols.
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.
Clean Synthetic Methodology Group, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 17A, I-43124 Parma, Italy.
Raimondo
R
Maggi
Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-20-5256515.
N Raveendran
NR
Shiju
Clean Synthetic Methodology Group, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 17A, I-43124 Parma, Italy; Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-20-5256515.
Veronica
V
Santacroce
Clean Synthetic Methodology Group, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 17A, I-43124 Parma, Italy.
Giovanni
G
Maestri
Clean Synthetic Methodology Group, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 17A, I-43124 Parma, Italy; Istituto IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I-43124 Parma, Italy.
Franca
F
Bigi
Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-20-5256515.
Gadi
G
Rothenberg
esterification; heterogeneous catalysis; renewable feedstocks; supported organic catalysts; sustainable chemistry