Study on Condensation of Cyclohexanone with Glycerol Catalyzed by Carbon-based Solid Acid

Amorphous carbon material prepared from expanded starch and p-toluene sulfonic acid has been examined as a novel strong solid acid catalyst.The catalytic performances were studied on condensation of cyclohexanone with glycerol.The effects of molar ratio of glycerol with cyclohexanone,catalyst concentration and reaction time were discussed.The results of XRD and acid-base titration indicated the incompletely carbonization of the mixtures of expanded starch and p-toluene sulfonic acid results in amorphous carbon consisting of small polycyclic aromatic carbon sheets with high density of -SO3H groups.When the condensation reaction was carried out with n(cyclohexanone)∶n(glycerol) 1∶1.2,mass fraction of catalyst 10%,cyclohexane 15 mL and refluxe time 120 min,the maximum yield of ketals was 99.2%.There was very little change in the catalytic activity of the regenerated catalyst,even after six cycles.