Relay transesterification strategy for direct synthesis of high-purity glycolide from methyl glycolate
Xiaofeng Xu , Dai Zhang , Yifei Wang , Yueqiang Cao , Wei Li , Jinghong Zhou , Xinggui Zhou
Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. ›› 2025, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (9) : 85
Relay transesterification strategy for direct synthesis of high-purity glycolide from methyl glycolate
High-purity glycolide is a key monomer for the synthesis of biodegradable polyglycolic acid. Here, we report a relay transesterification strategy for synthesizing high-purity glycolide directly from methyl glycolate, by using behenyl alcohol as a recyclable transesterification agent. This strategy achieves an average purity of 99.3% for glycolide without forming oligomers, and thus can avoid the energy-intensive purification required in the conventional route. Mechanistic studies indicate that methyl glycolate is first converted into behenyl glycolate via hetero-intermolecular transesterification during the relay transesterification process, and then the behenyl glycolate undergoes a homo-intermolecular transesterification to form behenyl dimer glycolate, which then undergoes intramolecular backbiting transesterification to yield glycolide and behenyl alcohol.
glycolide / transesterification / high-boiling-point alcohol / sustainable chemistry / bioplastics
Higher Education Press
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