COMPUTATIONAL INSIGHTS INTO THE ESTERIFICATION OF LAURIC ACID (C12) WITH α-BISABOLOL OVER CeO2 AS A HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61164/jzjcha21Keywords:
Esterification, Heterogeneous catalysis, Lauric acid (C12), α-bisabolol alcohol, Computational chemistryAbstract
In this work, we conducted a theoretical investigation of the esterification of lauric acid (C12) with the natural unsaturated alcohol (-)-α-bisabolol, considering both uncatalyzed and CeO2-catalyzed pathways. Molecular structures were optimized using a combination of semi-empirical methods and Density Functional Theory (DFT), enabling the calculation of key parameters such as dipole moments, electrostatic potential maps, infrared spectra, and frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO and LUMO). For the uncatalyzed reactions, we evaluated thermodynamic descriptors, including enthalpy (∆H⁰), Gibbs free energy (∆G⁰), and entropy (∆S⁰), to gain mechanistic insights. Reaction pathways were further explored through a hybrid QM/MM strategy combined with Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. The esterification of lauric acid with (-)-α-bisabolol proceeds via an SN2-type mechanism. The findings indicate that, in the absence of a catalyst, the reaction is not spontaneous; however, the use of CeO2 as a heterogeneous catalyst significantly enhances the spontaneity, favoring the formation of (-)-α-bisabolol laurate.
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