Efficient Esterification of Long Chain Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids with Alcohols over ZrOCl2·8H2O Catalyst

Direct condensation of equimolar amounts of long chain carboxylic acids and alcohols could be achieved by using zirconyl chloride as an efficient catalyst. ZrOCl 2 .8H 2 O showed high activity for esterification between primary acids and alcohols; however, it was less active in the combination of branched acid and secondary alcohols to give the corresponding esters.