Glycerol ethers as green solvents: improved synthesis and ecotoxicity studies

Resumen del trabajo presentado al International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC), celebrado en La Rochelle (Francia) del 16 al 19 de mayo de 2017.In this communication we present a systematic study of the synthesis of mono- and dialkylglycerol ethers starting from alkyl alcohols and platform molecules coming from glycerol, such as glycidol and epichlorhydrin, and using several metal hydroxides as bases in mild reaction conditions. Yields and selectivities are strongly dependent on the base, the nature of the alcohol and its excess with regard to the epoxide. In general, better results are obtained with short chain alcohols. Furthermore, the ecotoxicities of nineteen glycerol alkyl ethers have been studied using the bacteria Vibrio fischeri and the crustacean Daphnia magna as bioindicators, and the possible structure-toxicity relationships have been explored.The authors acknowledge financial support from MINECO (projects CTQ2013-44867-P and CTQ2014-52367-R), Gobierno de Aragón (Groups E105 and E11) and the European Regional Development Funds.Peer reviewe