Abstract:

The transesterification of vegetable oils in methanol is the most common method for the production of biodiesel. The reaction is usually performed under basic homogeneous catalysis, using sodium/potassium hydroxide or alkoxides. There is currently a great demand for organic catalysts as they are less toxic than the metal catalysts, easy available and insensitive to oxygen. The sulfonic acid calix[4]arene is a macrocyclic compound obtained via the condensation of p-substituted phenols with formaldehyde. It has been reported as a reusable organic catalyst for the esterification of carboxylic acids in ethanol with high conversion yields. Due to these results, the aim of the present work is to investigate the use of p-sulfonic acid calix[4]arene as a reusable organocatalyst for the transesterification of passion fruit oil.