Acetyl chloride → Stearic Acid

Participants

Reaction Steps

Acylation was performed according to the invention on Whatman n0 2 paper with behenic acid chloride, behenic acid being a fatty acid with a saturated linear chain having C22. To this end, 500 mg of behenic acid were dissolved in 100 ml of chloroform in the presence of 500 mg of acetyl chloride. At the end of 15 minutes, a sample of paper was impregnated with the chloroform solution, the solvent was allowed to evaporate and a stream of gas at 150° C. was passed over the sample for 15 seconds. The presence of an excess of acetyl chloride made it possible, by means of a transchlorination reaction, to prepare behenic acid chloride extemporaneously. The excess of acetyl chloride was then eliminated by the gas stream by virtue of its high volatility. The very short dwell time of the acetyl chloride was, moreover, not sufficient for it to react significantly with the support. It was found that behenic acid was efficiently grafted onto the paper sample while providing a hydrophobic character very significantly greater than that provided by stearic acid.

Provenance & Evidence