Direct ester condensation from a 1:1 mixture of carboxylic acids and alcohols catalyzed by hafnium(IV) or zirconium(IV) salts

To promote atom efficiency in synthesis and to avoid the generation of environmental waste, the use of stoichiometric amounts of condensing reagents or excess substrates should be avoided. In esterification, excess amounts of either carboxylic acids or alcohols are normally needed. We found that the direct condensation of equimolar amounts of carboxylic acids and alcohols could be achieved using hafnium(IV) or zirconium(IV) salts. These metal salts are highly effective as catalysts for the selective esterification of primary alcohols with carboxylic acids in the presence of secondary alcohols or aromatic alcohols. The present methods can be applied to direct polyesterification and may be suitable for large-scale operations.