Study on catalytic synthesis of n-butyl cinnamate with lanthanum methanesulfonate

Lanthanum methanesulfonate was prepared and characterized by TGA and FT-IR.The result of TGA indicated that four crystal-water are presented in the formula.The content of lanthanum oxide determined by TGA is in good agreement with theoretical calculated value.It was used as the catalyst in the esterification of cinnamic acid with butanol.The effects of alcohol∕acid molar ratio,reaction time and amount of catalyst have been investigated.The products was characterized by means of refractive index,elemental analysis and FT-IR.The yield can be over 96% under the optimum conditions that molar ratio of butanol to cinnamic acid,2∶ 1;amount of catalyst,1.0%(molar percentage of cinnamic acid);120 minutes reaction time and reflux temperature.The catalyst can be reused by simple phase-separation after reaction.It is used repeatedly for 5 times without obvious loss of activity and with the yield still is over 90.0%.