Guerbet alcohol esters: Practical synthesis and applications

Abstract

Guerbet alcohols are primary alcohols with beta branching and have lower melting point than their linear counterpart. Due to presence of branching, the products are liquid at lower temperatures; they have low volatility and exhibit better color and oxidation stability. The main advantage of the Guerbet branching material is their biodegradability. Present research work was carried out on synthesis of branch chain alcohols with varying hydrocarbon chain lengths. The main purpose was to study the effects of branching and varying chain length with performance properties. Branch chain esters with mono and di-carboxylic acids were synthesized with varying hydrocarbon chain lengths. The major limitation of Guerbet products is their cost. Guerbet alcohols were esterified with various monobasic and dibasic acids and found to have lower pour points. Load carrying capacity of prepared ester increased with increase in carbon chain. Wear scar of the prepared ester decreased with the increase in carbon number of ester molecule. These properties indicated their potential use as lubricating oil base stock which are environment friendly as they are biodegradable and with excellent liquidity.