Gas chromatography is a popular method for the identification and quantification of organic mixtures. Currently, there are no simple methods for the quantitative analysis of carboxylic acids via gas chromatography. This research proposes an efficient universal method for the derivatization of carboxylic acids to methyl esters in the presence of an acid catalyst through the employment of novel nano-reactors. These nano-reactors force the esterification reaction toward completion in two ways: 1) by forcing reagents to interact and 2) by removing the water byproduct from the reaction vessel to invoke Le Chatelier's principle.  This conversion will theoretically produce quantitative yields, efficiently, without excessive heat or expensive catalysts, making it an ideal choice for the chromatographic analysis of carboxylic acids. The use of a representative library of simple carboxylic acids, along with spectral data collected from proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and comparative retention times collected from a gas chromatogram, will be used to validate the hypothesis set forth in this project. Establishing an experimental procedure through this endeavor will set the groundwork for the eventual optimization and application of this esterification method to more complex molecules.

Esterification of carboxylic acids for analysis via gas chromatography

2019 Spring National Meeting

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