Study on the Synthesis of Triisoamyl Citrate with Microwave Irradiation Heating Method

Triisoamyl citrate was synthesized using citric acid and isoamyl alcohol as raw material with microwave irradiation heating method.The effects of catalyst,deaquation reagent,reaction time and the ratio of raw materials on the reaction were examined.The orthogonal experimental result showed that the optimum reaction conditions were as follows:citric acid 7.7 g,isoamyl alcohol 21.7 mL(the molar ratio of citric acid to isoamyl alcohol,1∶5); 1.0 g(4% of the total weight of raw material) NaHSO4·H2O as catalyst;25 mL dimethyl benzene as deaquation reagent;microwave irradiation time 15 min;the yield of product was 83.2%(the rate of esterification was 95.1%).The reaction was about 16 times faster under microwave irradiation than by conventional heating.The structure of product was characterized by elementary analysis and IR.