Green Synthesis of n-Butyl Propionate Catalyzed by Chitosan Sulfate

The esterification of n-butyl alcohol with propionic acid was studied by using chitosan sulfate as catalyst. The effect of some factors, such as reaction time, the amount of catalysts and the ratio of n-butyl alcohol to propionic acid on the yield of n-butyl propionate were carefully studied. The experiment results showed that the best reaction conditions were as follows: when the amount of propionic acid was 0.1mol, the ratio of n-butyl alcohol to propionic acid was 1.4,the amount of chitosan sulfate was 1.2g, through reacting 1.5 h, the yield of n-butyl propionate reached 97.2 %. The catalyst kept high capability after reused five times. The process has no pollution and characters of green synthesis. The product was characterized by refractive index and IR.