Addition of carboxylic acids to double bonds of fatty acids and derivatives using acid heterogeneous catalysts

Resumen del trabajo presentado al International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC), celebrado en La Rochelle (Francia) del 16 al 19 de mayo de 2017.Fatty acids and their derivatives are currently one of the most important raw renewable materials in the chemical industry. Different transformations can be carried out either in the carboxylic group or in the alkyl chain. In particular, reactions over the double bonds present in their hydrocarbon chains allow the introduction of new functional groups in their structure, providing new molecules which might replace petroleum derivatives, be used as valuable synthetic intermediates or be directly used for practical applications. An interesting reaction is the addition of carboxylic acids to the double bond of a fatty ester promoted by acid catalysts. The resulting products can be used as environmentally friendly lubricants additives or as lubricants themselves. A subsequent hydrolysis of the products leads to a mixture of hydroxyacids which can present interesting properties as surfactant, as co-monomers in the preparation of biodegradable polymers or even as active ingredients for treating colon cancer.The authors acknowledge financial support from MINECO (Project CTQ2014-52367-R), Gobierno de Aragón (Group E11) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).Peer reviewe