Production of long alkyl ethers in homogeneous systems: A study of glyceryl monododecyl ethers

In this study, the etherification of glycerol was executed with dodecanol through use of homogeneous catalysts. First, a univariate study of direct condensation was executed to determine the effects of the variables reaction time, catalyst type and glycerol:dodecanol molar ratio on the dodecyl ether (DOE) and glyceryl monododecyl ether (GMDE) production. A full 2 3 factorial design was used to evaluate the effect of glycerol:dodecanol molar ratio, catalyst loading and temperature on the production of dodecyl ether (DOE), glyceryl monododecyl ether (GMDE) substituted on carbon 1 (C1) or carbon 2 (C2). The GMDE yield was 35% in 3 h. The experimental results indicated that rising temperature positively affected GMDE content and higher catalyst loading increased DOE production. In the case of traditional routes, Williamson synthesis produced just 5% GMDE while when applying solketal synthesis, high yield and purity of this compound were obtained, demonstrating the viability of GMDE production.