The present work deals with the production of monoalkyl glyceryl ethers (MAGEs) through a new reaction pathway based on the reaction of glycidol and alcohols catalyzed by Lewis acid-based catalysts. Glycidol is quantitatively converted with high selectivity (99 %) into MAGEs under very mild reaction conditions (80 °C and 0.01 mol % catalyst loading) in only 1 h using Al(OTf)3 or Bi(OTf)3 as catalyst. The proposed method enhances the choice of possible green synthetic approaches for the production of value-added products such as MAGEs.
Keywords: Lewis acids; ethers; glycerol; green chemistry; waste valorization.
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