Journal
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Volume 57, Issue 12, Pages 3074-3078Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201711446
Keywords
alkyl lactates; lactide; supported catalysts; sustainable chemistry; transesterification
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Funding
- IWT (Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology) [131404]
- Industrial Research Fund (IOF) [ZKC8139]
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A new route to lactide, which is a key building block of the bioplastic polylactic acid, is proposed involving a continuous catalytic gas-phase transesterification of renewable alkyl lactates in a scalable fixed-bed setup. Supported TiO2/SiO2 catalysts are highly selective to lactide, with only minimal lactide racemization. The solvent-free process allows for easy product separation and recycling of unconverted alkyl lactates and recyclable lactyl intermediates. The catalytic activity of TiO2/SiO2 catalysts was strongly correlated to their optical properties by DR UV/Vis spectroscopy. Catalysts with high band-gap energy of the supported TiO2 phase, indicative of a high surface spreading of isolated Ti centers, show the highest turnover frequency per Ti site.
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