Sulfuric Acid → Sorbitol

Participants

Reaction Steps

1,000 g of a sorbitol powder (D-sorbitol, Samyang Genex Corp., Korea) was introduced into a three-necked glass reactor equipped with a stirrer and dissolved by elevating a temperature of the reactor to 110° C. under vacuum conditions of 3 mmHg. A mixed acid of 5 g of concentrated sulfuric acid (95%, Duksan Chemical Engineering, Co., Ltd., Korea) and 10 g of methanesulfonic acid (70%, Sigma) was added thereto, and then the reaction temperature was elevated to 145° C. The dehydration reaction was carried out for 3 hours under vacuum, resulting in conversion of sorbitol into isosorbide which is an anhydrosugar alcohol. The temperature of the reactor was lowered to 110° C., and 20 g of a 50% sodium hydroxide solution (Samchun Pure Chemical Co., Ltd., Korea) was added to neutralize the dehydration reaction liquid. Here, the anhydrosugar alcohol conversion rate was 85.4%, and the content of the resulting polymer was 6.3%.

Provenance & Evidence