Hydrolysis of Esters with Polymer Sulfonic Acids

II. Hydrolysis of Various Aliphatic Esters with Polystyrene Sulfonic Acid

Abstract

The hydrolysis of branched aliphatic esters, acetylated polyhydric alcohols and diesters of dibasic acids was carried out in aqueous solutions with polystyrene sulfonic acids (PS-S) of various degrees of sulfonation as catalysts. In the hydrolysis of branched aliphatic esters the effects of branching of alcohol component in butyl acetates and of acid component in methyl valerates were studied, and it was found that in both cases the branching of the esters reduced the catalytic efficiency of PS-S. Acetylated polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene acetate, triacetin, diacetin, monoacetin and acetylmannitol, and diesters of dibasic acids such as methyl fumarate and methyl maleate were used. In all cases, PS-S was a more active catalyst than hydrochloric acid, but the activity was only slightly affected by that the esters were polyvalent.