Use of hybrid organic‐siliceous catalysts for the selective conversion of glycerol

Abstract

AbstractThe contribution of hybrid organic‐siliceous materials for the selective conversion of glycerol is discussed. Through selected examples, we wish to show that the easy functionalization of siliceous supports with organic moiety, their large pore opening and the high hydrophilicity of these materials can be a great tool for the selective use of glycerol as a naturally sourced organic building block in organic chemistry. In particular, we show that hybrid organic‐siliceous materials are highly efficient for the direct and selective monofunctionalization of glycerol under mild conditions, thus offering a very convenient route to a wide range of chemicals such as monoglycerides, glycerol ethers, or renewably sourced monomers which are usually obtained with low yields using conventional catalytic routes. The glycerol industrially produced by the biodiesel manufacture is called glycerin and is an average mixture of glycerol (80 wt%), water (15 wt%), and soap (5 wt%). The possible utilization of glycerin instead of refined glycerol is much more desirable from the viewpoint of green chemistry but the presence of water and/or soap causes important damages to solid catalysts. In this context, we show here that the recent progresses in the search of water‐tolerant silica‐based materials now offers great means to directly use glycerin instead of refined glycerol as building block.