Methyl Acetate → Propylene Glycol

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

A suspension is prepared from 800 parts of 1,2-diacetoxypropane, 960 parts of methanol and 176 parts of cation exchanger (®Lewatit SPC 108) in a stirred reactor, provided with a distillation unit, by stirring at 300 rpm, and the mixture is heated at 62° C. (The exchange resin is a sulfonated styrene/divinylbenzene copolymer resin; it has a macro-porous structure and a particle size of from 0.3 to 15 mm). 910 parts of the azeotropic mixture of methanol and methyl acetate, of boiling point 54° C., are distilled off in the course of 4 hours. The ion exchanger is then filtered off. Distillation gives 470 parts of a methyl acetate/methanol mixture and 376 parts of 1,2-propanediol.

Provenance & Evidence