Organic Reactions with Ion-exchange Resin. I. Preparation of Esters

Abstract

Esterificraion of organic acids using cation-exchange resin as a catalyst was experimented. In order to remove the water formed by the reaction, CCl₄ was added with EtOH, thereby forming a ternary azeotropic mixture, allowing water to distill at a low temperature. This method is especially well-adapted for the esterification of aliphatic dicarboxylic and aromatic carboxylic acids. Sometimes, esterification does not proceed smoothy due to low temperature but, in such cases, use of higher alcohols such as butanol, will correct the fault. The advantage of ion-exchange resin over HCl and H₂SO₄ lies in the fact that the resin can be used over and over again for the same reaction, separation of the product from reactant solution is easy and that damage to reacting vessels in industries is minimized.