Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

KN-2GROUP IV COMPLEXES FOR ESTERIFICATION ANDTRANSESTERIFICATION REACTIONSSimoni M. P. Meneghetti 1 , Yariadner Costa Brito 1 , Vinícius Moreira Mello 2 ,Caio César S. Macedo 2 , Mario Roberto Meneghetti 1 , Paulo A. Z. Suarez 21 Instituto de Química e Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Av. Lourivalde Melo Mota, s/ nº, Maceió-AL, Brazil – 57072-970, simoni.plentz@gmail.com2 Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, CP 4472, Brasilia-DF,Brazil – 70919-910Two series of complexes exhibiting general formula M(n-butoxide) 4-x (maltolate) x ,where M = Ti or Zr and x = 0 to 4, were studied as catalyst for transesterification andesterification, in order to obtain methyl esters [1]. All the complexes were evaluatedas catalyst for soybean oil methanolysis and reactions yields bellow 10 % wereachieved, indicating a very low catalytic activity of these complexes when comparedwith other Lewis acid metal complexes in similar conditions [2,3]. In the sequence, allthe complexes were evaluated in the esterification of soybean fatty acid andmethanol (Figure 1).10090All complexes, containing80maltolate as ligand, were very70efficient as catalyst in6050esterification, mainly thoseWithout catalystc40based in zirconium. Thed30efpresence of maltolate ligands20ghleads to complexes which are10i0more stable to moisture and0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5Reaction time (h)the complexes, bearing atFigure 1: Production of FAMEs (percentage yield) by theleast one maltolate as ligand, esterification in the presence of Ti (c to e) and Zr (f to i)catalysts. The reaction conditions were: molarproved to be very efficientproportions of fatty acid:MeOH:catalyst = 100:400:1;catalysts for esterification andtemperature = 140 °C.the most active systems were those based on zirconium.References:Yi eld of FAM E s (%)[1]. Y.C. Brito, V.M. Mello, C.C.S. Macedo, M.R. Meneghetti, P.A.Z. Suarez, S.M.P. Meneghetti, Appl.Catal. A, 351 (2008) 24-28.[2]. F.R. Abreu, D.G. Lima, E.H. Hamu, C.R. Wolf, P.A.Z. Suarez, J. Mol.Catal. A Chem. 209 (2004)29-33.[3]. D.A.C. Ferreira, M.R. Meneghetti, S.M.P. Meneghetti, C.R. Wolf, Appl. Catal. A 317 (2007) 58-61.Acknowledgements: CAPES, CNPq, FINEP, FAPEAL.16