Glycerol Acetalization in Cyclopentyl Methyl Ether with Mild Acid Catalysts

Reaction of glycerol with aldehydes and ketones is a strategy widely studied in literature to valorize this bioproduct. A Brønsted or Lewis acid is normally used to activate the carbonyl function and various strategies adopted to drive the equilibrium to the products. In this study ammonium salts as catalysts, and removal of water by azeotropic distillation of cyclopentyl methyl ether, permit the conversion of glycerol into acetals obtained as mixture of dioxanes and dioxolanes determined by 1H-NMR. Under the optimized conditions, the products could be obtained in excellent yield without using excess of reactants and the solvent was recycled efficiently.