Abstract
The formose reaction in reverse micelles of aerosol-OT (AOT), triton X-100 (TX), and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was investigated. Time–conversion data have indicated that the interfacial water layer of AOT reverse micelles is a medium that accelerates formation of glycolaldehyde in the formose reaction. The 13C NMR spectra for the products of the formose reaction using formaldehyde-13C as starting material are indicative of the formation of ethylene glycol as a major product.
Highlights
When formaldehyde is consumed quantitatively, the reaction mixture turns yellow
When the concentration of glycolaldehyde reaches a certain level, formaldehyde is consumed rapidly to form a complicated mixture of sugars predominantly via aldol reaction and aldose–ketose transformation in the sugar formation period
Since we focus on the use of reaction media of nanometer scale for the control of the formose reaction [17], we have carried out the reaction in reverse micelles and found that the formose reaction in reverse micelles does not show the induction period
Summary
When formaldehyde is consumed quantitatively, the reaction mixture turns yellow. In the sugar degradation period, the sugars formed are decomposed dominantly through crossCannizzaro reaction and retro-aldol reaction to form a more complicated reaction mixture. In the induction period two formaldehyde molecules form glycolaldehyde, which is the rate-determining step of the formose reaction. Before investigating the formose reaction, the sizes of water pools of the reverse micelles formed from the surfactants were evaluated under several conditions (see Supporting Information File 1).
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