Work

Ketalization of carbohydrate-derived levulinic esters using cellulose sulfuric acid as a heterogeneous catalyst: a closed-loop biorefinery approach

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Levulinic ester ketals (LEKs) are carbohydrate-derived renewable chemicals with potential applications as chemical building blocks, fuel additives, solvents, monomers, and plasticizers. This work reports the synthesis of ethyl levulinate ethylene glycol ketal (LEK 1) and ethyl levulinate propylene glycol ketal (LEK 2) by the ketalization of carbohydrate-derived ethyl levulinate using cellulose sulfuric acid (CSA) as an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous acid catalyst. Cyclohexane was used as the solvent to remove water formed in the reaction by azeotropic distillation, and nearly quantitative isolated yields of LEK 1 and LEK 2 were obtained under optimized parameters. The transformation was optimized on various process parameters, and the CSA catalyst was successfully recycled. Using CSA as a catalyst for producing LEKs shows promise for a closed-loop carbohydrate-centric biorefinery approach.

Source: RSC Advances

DOI: 10.1039/d5ra00610d

Authors: Poornachandra Shamanna Prabhakar, Saikat Dutta

Institution: National Institute of Technology Karnataka

Language: English

Topic: Catalysis for Biomass Conversion

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,042