Highly efficient and selective transformations of glycerol using reusable heterogeneous catalysts

Abstract

The highly efficient and selective transformations of glycerol to valuable compounds using reusable heterogeneous catalysts are demonstrated. Lanthanum cation-exchanged montmorillonite shows high activity for the selective synthesis of diacetylglycerols through acetylation with acetic acid. Furthermore, the diacetylglycerols obtained can be subsequently oxidized into 1,3-diacetoxyacetone under air using an AlOx-embedded copper nanoparticle catalyst. © 2014 American Chemical Society.