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Sulfonated Reduced Graphene Oxide: An Acid Catalyst that Efficiently Promotes the Esterification of Glycerol

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Abstract

A sulfonated graphene catalyst was designed and tested in the acetylation of glycerol. The catalyst was synthesized using graphite as starting material and comprised three stages, which included: (i) synthesis the graphene oxide by means of a modified Hummers method, (ii) reduction with ascorbic acid, and (iii) functionalization of the material with sulfanilic acid by in situ diazotization. Structural, morphological and chemical properties were characterized by SEM, XRD, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The acidity was determined by elemental analysis. The catalytic properties of catalyst in the glycerol acetylation were studied and compared with a commercial sulfonic resin, i.e. Amberlyst® 15. The sulfonated graphene presents attractive features in the catalytic transformation of glycerol, allowing for significant increase in the reaction rate at low temperature, and achieving at optimum activity and greater selectivity towards triacetin.

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Acknowledgements

Authors express our acknowledges for the financial support obtained from VRI-UNICAUCA (Project ID 5526). A.S. acknowledges financial support from the European Union (ERDF) and “Région Nouvelle Aquitaine”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Catálisis, Departamento de Química, Universidad del Cauca, calle 5 No. 4-70, Popayán, Colombia

    Luisa Damaris Ramos Riascos, Alfonso Enrique Ramírez Sanabria & Cristian David Miranda Muñoz

  2. Grupo de Microscopía y Análisis de Imágenes, Departamento de Biología, Universidad del Cauca, calle 5 No. 4-70, Popayán, Colombia

    Gerardo Andrés Torres Rodríguez

  3. Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (ICM2P), UMR 7285 CNRS, 4 Rue Michel Brunet, Bâtiment B27, 86073, Poitiers Cedex, France

    Alexander Sachse

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  1. Luisa Damaris Ramos Riascos
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Correspondence to Cristian David Miranda Muñoz.

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Ramos Riascos, L.D., Ramírez Sanabria, A.E., Torres Rodríguez, G.A. et al. Sulfonated Reduced Graphene Oxide: An Acid Catalyst that Efficiently Promotes the Esterification of Glycerol. Top Catal 65, 957–965 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-022-01629-y

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