Study on catalytic synthesis of n-butyl cinnamate with Calcium p-toluenesulfonate

Calcium p-toluenesulfonate was prepared and 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 were characterized by means of refractive index,elemental analysis and FT-IR.The yield can be over 95% under the optimum conditions that molar ratio of butanol to cinnamic acid,2:1;amount of catalyst,1.2%(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 over 80.0%.