Commercial turpentine oil enriched with α-terpineol using an acid heterogeneous catalyst

Abstract

The hydration of α-pinene, limonene, β-pinene, and commercial turpentine oil in the presence of strong acidic cation exchange resin Amberlyst-15 was studied. The acid catalytic hydration was performed in a batch reactor, and the effect of solvent at various temperatures and reaction times was evaluated. The main hydration product obtained from α-pinene was α-terpineol with a yield of 36 % (4 h, 70 °C, 2-propanol as solvent); however, the selected catalytic system was even more active to obtain α-terpineol when β-pinene was used as a substrate, obtaining α-terpineol yield of 38 % in 2 h of reaction. For the hydration of turpentine (70 °C, turpentine:water:2-propanol mass ratio of 1:0.5:2, 15 % w/w catalyst) the composition of reaction mixture after 4 h was 35 % w/w of α-terpineol, 8 % w/w of α-pinene, and 0.5 % w/w of β –pinene, which correspond to a final content of α-terpineol similar to the concentration obtained when α-pinene was used as a substrate (36 % w/w).