The continuous acid-catalyzed dehydration of alcohols in supercritical fluids: a new approach to the cleaner synthesis of acetals, ketals, and ethers with high selectivity

WK Gray, FR Smail, MG Hitzler, SK Ross…

Index: Gray, William K.; Smail, Fiona R.; Hitzler, Martin G.; Ross, Stephen K.; Poliakoff, Martyn Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1999 , vol. 121, # 46 p. 10711 - 10718

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Citation Number: 93

Abstract

We report a new continuous method for forming ethers, acetals and ketals using solid acid catalysts, DELOXAN ASP or AMBERLYST 15, and supercritical fluid solvents. In the case of ether formation, we observe a high selectivity for linear alkyl ethers with little rearrangement to give branched ethers. Such rearrangement is common in conventional syntheses. Our approach is effective for a range of n-alcohols up to n-octanol and also for the secondary ...