High selective autocatalytic esterification of glutamic acid by benzyl alcohol with CuCl 2 promoting

Y Ma, Z Li, K Su, B Cheng

Index: Ma, Yinggai; Li, Zhenhuan; Su, Kunmei; Cheng, Bowen Catalysis Communications, 2014 , vol. 48, p. 15 - 18

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Abstract

Abstract We found that the esterification of l-glutamic acid by benzyl alcohol is greatly promoted by CuCl 2 even in H 2 O solvent, and the selectivity and yield of γ-benzyl ester of l- glutamic acid achieved 100% and 95.31%. Metal cation coordination to the amino acids via neighboring amino and carbonyl groups increased α position carboxyl acidity which initiates the esterification reaction to selectively take place on γ position carboxyl group. In this ...