Ionic Liquid–Silicotungstic Acid Composites as Efficient and Recyclable Catalysts for the Selective Esterification of Glycerol with Lauric Acid to Monolaurin

Abstract

Abstract The synthesis of glycerol monolaurate (GML) by the esterification of glycerol (GL) with lauric acid (LA) over a series of propyl sulfonic acid‐functionalized ionic liquids (SAFILs)‐modified silicotungstic acid (STA; H 4 SiW 12 O 40 ) composite catalysts has been investigated. The synthesized organic–inorganic hybrid catalysts were characterized by different physicochemical techniques. In particular, their acidic properties were studied by solid‐state 31 P magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy by using adsorbed trimethylphosphine oxide (TMPO) as a probe. The effects of key reaction parameters, such as glycerol/lauric acid molar ratio, amount of catalyst, reaction time, and reaction temperature on LA conversion and GML product yield were elucidated and optimized with response surface methodology (RSM). The N , N ‐dimethyl(benzyl)ammonium propyl sulfobetaine (DMBPS)‐modified STA [DMBPSH]H 3 SiW 12 O 40 exhibited the optimal catalytic activity and was exploited for process optimization. A highest GML yield of 79.1 % was achieved with the optimized reaction conditions. The high catalytic activity of these hybrid catalysts were attributed to strong acidity, low transport resistance, and their “pseudoliquid” characteristics. A kinetic study was made based on a second‐order irreversible model of the esterification reaction, which resulted in an activation energy of 39.49 kJ mol −1 for [DMBPSH]H 3 SiW 12 O 40 under optimized reaction conditions.