Highly Efficient, Selective and Ultrasound-Assisted Monohydrolysis of Polyhedral Diesters in Co-solvent

Abstract

In this work, a new procedure for the selective monohydrolysis of polyhedral diesters is reported. The optimal conditions with regard to the catalytic activity, quantity of catalyst, ultrasound irradiation power, solvents and both the reaction and separation temperatures were examined. A series of polyhedral monoesters were obtained in high yield using 1-2 mol % of p-toluene sulphonic acid in a co-solvent under ultrasonic irradiation. This work not only leads to a practical synthetic method for polyhedral monoesters, but also provides a new approach to acid-catalyzed selective monohydrolysis.