Some Thoughts on the Mechanism of Ester Interchange Reactions Involving Acylglycerols
2020
Dijkstra, Albert J.
Ester interchange reactions involving acylglycerides are industrially important because the interesterification process provides trans‐isomer free hardstocks and the transesterification process produces biodiesel. This Commentary proposes to extend the enolate mechanism that has been suggested for the interesterification process to the transesterification process. It also highlights the gaps in people's knowledge and discusses the implication of these gaps. Practical Applications: Insight into the mechanism of the interesterification reaction provides means to eliminate the yield loss suffered by the current industrial processes. Use of an alkali metal glycerolate will avoid the formation of fatty acid methyl esters and their subsequent loss. Using the same catalyst during the transesterification will reduce the variable cost of this process since this catalyst can be easily produced on site from by‐product glycerol.
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