This study describes the selective synthesis of C36 -dimer fatty acids, by reacting unsaturated fatty acid at 533 K for 6 h in the presence of montmorillonite and lithium chloride as the catalyst and cocatalyst, respectively. The catalytic performance of different montmorillonite and organic modified montmorillonite catalysts was investigated in the dimerization of technical grade unsaturated fatty acid, and the influence of the catalyst structure and composition on the catalytic performance was analyzed. | Turkish Journal of Chemistry Turk J Chem 2018 42 50 62 http chem ITAK c TUB Research Article doi kim-1704-61 Organic modification of montmorillonite and effect of catalytic selectivity on the dimerization of unsaturated fatty acid Xue HUANG Guoqiang YIN Guangzhu FENG College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering Guangzhou Guangdong . China Received Accepted Published Online Final Version Abstract This study describes the selective synthesis of C 36 -dimer fatty acids by reacting unsaturated fatty acid at 533 K for 6 h in the presence of montmorillonite and lithium chloride as the catalyst and cocatalyst respectively. The catalytic performance of different montmorillonite and organic modified montmorillonite catalysts was investigated in the dimerization of technical grade unsaturated fatty acid and the influence of the catalyst structure and composition on the catalytic performance was analyzed. All the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction XRD Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy FT-IR scanning electron microscope SEM transmission electron microscopy TEM thermogravimetry TG and dispersion experiments. The results show that the layer spacing and dispersion property of the montmorillonite crystal have important effects on its catalytic performance and the yield of the product. In the dimerization experiments the maximum yield of the dimer acid is found to be while the lowest yield is . It is thought that the larger interlayer spacing in the montmorillonite provides more reaction space for the unsaturated fatty acid allows the generation of a large volume of dimeric molecules and helps the product molecules to diffuse out from the layered structure. Key words Montmorillonite modification dimerization dimer acid 1. Introduction Dimer acids are generally dimeric polymers synthesized by two identical or different unsaturated fatty .
