Catalytic etherification of glycerol to tert-butyl glycerol ethers using tert -butanol over sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous polymer

Pandian Manjunathan, Manish Kumar, Sathyapal R. Churipard, S. Sivasankaran, Ganapati V. Shanbhag, Sanjeev P. Maradur

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mesoporous polymers (MP) were synthesized by free radical polymerization of divinylbenzene by a solvothermal method followed by sulfonic acid functionalization by a post synthetic modification with conc. H2SO4. MP-SO3H was characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as FT-IR, nitrogen sorption, CHNS analysis, acid-base titration and TGA. MP-SO3H was demonstrated to be a highly active heterogeneous acid catalyst, providing a high yielding route for the synthesis of h-GTBE through the etherification of bio-renewable glycerol with tert-butanol. MP-SO3H containing optimum acidity and a large mesoporous surface area gave 44% h-GTBE selectivity at 86% glycerol conversion under optimized reaction conditions. The catalytic performance of MP-SO3H was found to be superior over other conventional porous solid acid catalysts.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)82654-82660
Number of pages7
JournalRSC Advances
Volume6
Issue number86
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01-01-2016
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Chemistry(all)
  • Chemical Engineering(all)

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