Method for purification of alcohols
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorNeil W. Boaz
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Abstract
A method for the purification of alcohols from organic soluble impurities has been discovered comprising treating the crude alcohol with a cyclic anhydride followed by an aqueous base and extracting the corresponding half-ester into aqueous solution leaving the impurities in organic solution. This method is particularly useful for the separation of chiral, nonracemic alcohols from the corresponding antipodal ester (the mixture resulting from an enzymatic kinetic resolution) because the separation is non-chromatographic and the enantiomeric integrity of the products is maintained.
Claims17
A method for the purification of an alcohol comprising the sequential steps of:
- (a) contacting an organic solution comprising an organic-soluble impurity and a crude parent alcohol with a cyclic anhydride to form a mixture comprising a corresponding alcohol half-ester and said organic-soluble impurity wherein said half-ester substituent is derived from the cyclic anhydride;
- (b) combining said mixture with a base in an aqueous environment wherein said half-ester forms a water-soluble salt;
- (c) separating said water-soluble salt from said organic-soluble impurity;
- and
- (d) removing said half-ester substituent from said water-soluble salt to afford a purified parent alcohol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.