It comes out in the wash: In the esterification of citric acid with n-butanol, heteropolyanion-based ionic liquid (IL) catalysts show high catalytic activity, self-separation, and easy reuse. The good solubility in reactants, nonmiscibility with ester product, and high melting point of the IL catalysts enable the reaction-induced switching from homogeneous (b in the picture) to heterogeneous (c) with subsequent precipitation of the catalyst (d).
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Leng et al. (2008) studied this question.
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