Studies on the reactions of lactone intermediates derived from levulinic acid: telescoped routes to higher levulinate ester biofuels

Aldred, Matthew P., Davies, Thomas E., Taylor, Stuart H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1933-4874 and Graham, Andrew E. 2025. Studies on the reactions of lactone intermediates derived from levulinic acid: telescoped routes to higher levulinate ester biofuels. ACS Omega 10.1021/acsomega.4c08315

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Abstract

The development of efficient strategies for the synthesis of levulinate esters is of significant current interest due to their potential as biofuels and fuel additives. Herein, we report a novel strategy to access levulinate esters derived from higher alcohols directly from levulinic acid through the in situ generation of lactone intermediates employing commercial heterogeneous catalysts, such as Amberlyst-15. This strategy employs a telescoped approach in which the lactonization/ring-opening reactions are combined into an operationally simple one-pot procedure. This strategy is advantageous as it employs a readily available and inexpensive catalyst and proceeds in short reaction times to produce excellent yields of higher levulinate esters with high selectivity. Furthermore, the Amberlyst-15 catalyst is fully recyclable and can be reused without loss of activity or selectivity.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Chemistry Research Institutes & Centres > Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI)
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
ISSN:	2470-1343
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	17 March 2025
Date of Acceptance:	17 December 2024
Last Modified:	07 Apr 2025 13:34
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176905

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