Etherification of isoamyl alcohol using Amberlyst®15 as an acid catalyst

The present work reports on the production of di-isoamyl ether from the etherification of isoamyl alcohol, using the sulphonic resin Amberlyst®-15 (A-15) as a catalyst. Parameters such as temperature, reaction time and amount of catalyst were studied. Although the etherification reaction shows low conversions (9-18%), when glycerol is added to the reaction medium and an external pressure to the reaction system (3.5 atm), the conversion increases up to 40% and a yield up to 100% can be obtained towards di-isoamyl ether.