Microwave Assisted Reactions of Natural Oils: Transesterification and Hydroformylation/Isomerization as Tools for High Value Compounds

Title:Microwave Assisted Reactions of Natural Oils: Transesterification and Hydroformylation/Isomerization as Tools for High Value Compounds

Volume: 2 Issue: 1

Author(s): Liliana Damas, Goncalo N. Costa, Juvencio C. Ruas, Rui M. B. Carrilho, Artur R. Abreu, Gilberto Aquino, Mario J.F. Calvete, Marta Pineiro and Mariette M. Pereira

Affiliation:

Keywords: Calophyllum inophyllum oil, hydroformylation, internal olefins, ionic liquids, methyl oleate, microwave, phosphite, renewable heterogeneous catalysts, rhodium, transesterification.

Abstract: A comparative study on the transesterification of natural oils obtained from Calophyllum inophyllum seeds was carried out using homogeneous (NaOH/MeOH) or heterogeneous catalysts, with conventional heating and under microwave irradiation. The results show that the microwave-assisted reaction using heterogeneous catalysts, obtained from renewable sources (rice husk and egg shell ashes), constitutes an energetically sustainable approach for transesterification.

In order to obtain value-added products from natural oils, rhodium/monophosphite catalysts were applied to the hydroformylation of methyl oleate, also under conventional heating or microwave irradiation. Using conventional heating conditions (T = 80°C; P_syngas = 30 bar), high catalytic activity was observed with 98% chemoselectivity for aldehydes, while under microwave irradiation, using a CEM® Discover system equipped with syngas addition kit, high conversions were observed under mild reaction conditions (T = 60°C; P_syngas = 10 bar), mainly with formation of isomerization products.

Cite this article as:

Damas Liliana, Costa N. Goncalo, Ruas C. Juvencio, Carrilho M. B. Rui, Abreu R. Artur, Aquino Gilberto, Calvete J.F. Mario, Pineiro Marta and Pereira M. Mariette, Microwave Assisted Reactions of Natural Oils: Transesterification and Hydroformylation/Isomerization as Tools for High Value Compounds, Current Microwave Chemistry 2015; 2 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/221333560201150212110805