Abstract:

Fatty acid esters and derivatives find widespread applications in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries owing to their biodegradability and low toxicity. Esters of short chain fatty acids are important flavor and aroma compounds and esters of long chain fatty acids are being explored for their use as biodiesel and as waxes in the oleo-chemical industries. The favorable effects of ultrasonic irradiation are playing an increasing role in chemical processes, especially in cases where classical methods require onerous conditions or prolonged reaction times. As part of our continuing work on the use of ultrasound irradiation to improve organic reactions, we report here a rapid and facile procedure for the synthesis of saturated aliphatic acid esters by the ultrasound irradiation induced reaction of aliphatic acids with methanol or ethanol in acidic media at room temperature.