One-Step Synthesis of Methyl Glycolate by Hydrolysis and Esterification in an Autoclave Reactor

The Fundamental Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory, Institute of Organic chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kim Il Sung University has developed synthesis method of methyl glycolate which is used to prepare fine glycolic acid. Fine glycolic acid is widely used as a chemical peeling material in treatment of skin.

The transformation of chloroacetic acid to methyl glycolate by the conventional method involves three steps. The first step is the hydrolysis of chloroacetic acid with aqueous sodium hydroxide to yield glycolic acid. In the second step, glycolic acid oligomer is generated by overconcentration of aqueous glycolic acid. In the third step, the glycolic acid oligomer is treated with methanol to produce MG which is separated by distillation.

We synthesized methyl glycolate in a single step from chloroacetic acid, sodium hydroxide and methanol by hydrolysis and esterification in an autoclave reactor. The highest methyl glycolate yield of 81.4% was obtained under suitable conditions of 8:1:1=methanol : sodium hydroxide:chloroacetic acid (molar ratio), after 5h at 150°C.

This method offers the gains of clean reaction, short reaction time, high yield, low energy consumption and easy purification.

The results were published in the "Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society" under the title of "One-step synthesis of methyl glycolate by hydrolysis and esterification in an autoclave reactor"(https://doi.org/10.1007/s13738-024-03154-z).