New Greener Method for the Preparation of Heteropolyacid Compounds (HPW) Modified with Metallic Tin and Application in the Lactic Acid Esterification Reaction

The main objective of this work was to design an innovative method to prepare heterogeneous heteropolyacid catalysts. The heteropolyacid H3PW12O40 (HPW) was modified with tin(II) by two methodologies: a conventional aqueous ion-exchange (CS) and a redox solid-state (SS). In both cases, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements evidenced that Keggin structure was preserved. All materials were active in the esterification of lactic acid with several alcohols and a mechanism was proposed. The best results were obtained for octanol and benzyl alcohol, ...