Greener route for intensified synthesis of Tricaprylin using Amberlyst-15

Abstract

Tricaprylin is a triglyceride of caprylic acid. Tricaprylin is a medium-chain triglyceride. Medium-chain triglycerides are considered as a nutraceutical and have a wide range of application in health foods and nutraceutical industry. In the present study, the synthesis of tricaprylin is investigated using environment-friendly approach i.e., with the application of microwave and heterogeneous catalyst dry acidic Amberlyst-15. The result of various reaction conditions like the molar ratio of reactant, reaction temperature, and catalyst amberlyst loading on the conversion of caprylic acid into tricaprylin is studied. The microwave synthesis is compared with traditional or normal synthesis of tricaprylin. In the present study, it is found that microwave synthesis resulted in a high degree of conversion in less time as compared to conventional synthesis. Conversion of 99.5% is observed in 16 min of reaction between medium-chain fatty acid (C8) and glycerol under optimized reaction parameters of the molar ratio of caprylic acid:glycerol as 3:5 with reaction temperature 800 °C and catalyst loading of 4% (by weight of fatty acid).