Potassium Carbonate as a Reusable Heterogeneous Catalyst for Acetylation of Alcohols with Vinyl Acetate Under Sonication: A Sustainable Approach

Abstract Despite acetylation being the go‐to protecting group for alcohols, regulatory restrictions on the use of acetic anhydride as the acetylating agent has forced to look for other alternatives. Recently, ethyl acetate and vinyl acetate have found applications as acetyl surrogate for protection of alcohols, but the reported methods are a few. Given the recent emphasis on development of green and sustainable methodology, here, we present one of the most efficient, user friendly, and environmentally benign methods for acetylation of alcohols via irreversible trans‐esterification of alcohols with vinyl acetate under sonication in the presence of a catalytic amount of anhydrous potassium carbonate as reusable heterogeneous catalyst. The reaction gives quantitative yields, uses recyclable vinyl acetate as solvent, needs no work up, and reuses the catalyst up to five times without needing any processing after use. The method demonstrated excellent green matrices as evident from low E ‐factor (2.31) and PMI (3.62), and high RME (73.43%) at multigram scale.