Studies on Catalytic Synthesis of Fructone by a New Solid Sulfonic Acid Sulfonated Activated Carbon

The synthesis of fructone from ethyl acetoacetate and ethylene glycol using sulfonated activated carbon as solid acid catalyst was investigated.Various reaction parameters such as ratio of ethyl acetoacetate to ethylene glycol,catalyst amount,reaction time and water-carrying reagent amount were studied.The optimum reaction conditions were: the molar ratio of ethyl acetoacetate to ethylene glycol was 1:1.8,the quantity of catalyst was equal to 2% ethyl acetaoacetate,amount of cyclohexane was 20mL,and the reaction time was 3h.The yield of fructone reached 93.1% and its selectivity was nearly 100% under the optimum condition.The experimental results showed that sulfonated activated carbon was an excellent catalyst for synthesis of fructone.Comparaed with other acid catalysts,the sulfonated activated carbon has higher activity,lesser usage and no pollution.