(113f) Inserting Ethoxyl into Ethyl Acetate Catalyzed by Inorganic Al-Mg Oxides

A one-step technique is provided for producing olig-ethylene glycol ethyl ether acetate (olig-EGEEA) by inserting ethylene oxide (EO) into the linkage between carbonyl carbon and the ester oxygen of ethyl acetate (EA). Ethoxylation of ethyl acetate with Al-Mg composite oxide catalysts containing both acidic and basic active sites was studied. The catalysts for ethoxylation of ethyl acetate was screened out based on the ratio of acidic/basic active sites on the catalyst surface aiming at high product selectivity of mono- ethylene glycol ethyl ether acetate (MEGEEA). In this work, the best selectivity of MEGEEA (51.5%, w/w) was obtained at following conditions: amount of catalyst, 1.1 g/100g ethyl acetate; initial pressure, 0.1 MPa; reaction temperature,145-150°C; molar ratio of EA to EO, 5:1; feeding rate of EO, 0.25 g?min^-1. The product selectivity of MEGEEA was not decreased dramatically after the catalyst had been used ten times.

^† corresponding author: Yun FANG

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