Eco-conception of Highly Salt-Tolerant Alkyl Ether Carboxylate Hydrotropes with a Glyceryl Spacer.

New alkyl ether carboxylates with a glyceryl spacer instead of ethylene glycol units have been synthesised using environmentally friendly methodology. A cascade synthesis of acetalisation and hydrogenolysis was developed to obtain products containing an alkyl chain linked to a glycerol unit bearing a polar carboxylate head. These products were methylated by using trimethyl phosphate to observe the influence of a free or methoxylated alcohol on the physicochemical properties. Finally, saponification gave the carboxylate anionic group of the new hydrotropes. Studying the amphiphilicity, the tolerance to sodium and calcium ions, and the solubilising power of these bio-based ionic/nonionic hydrotropes has shown that they exhibit significantly improved application properties compared to similar petro-based hydrotropes.

Methylation of Polyols with Trimethylphosphate in the Presence of a Lewis or Brønsted Acid Catalyst.

The alkylation of alcohols and polyols has been investigated with alkylphosphates in the presence of a Lewis or Brønsted acid catalyst. The permethylation of polyols was developed under solvent-free conditions at 100 °C with either iron triflate or Aquivion PW98, affording the isolated products in yields between 52 and 95 %. The methodology was also adjusted to carry out peralkylation with longer alkyl chains.