Transesterfication

Transesterfication is a type of chemical reaction that takes an alcohol and an ester and makes a different alcohol and different ester. Essentially, the alcohol part of the ester is exchanged for the alcohol reactant. Transesterfication reactions are usually catalysed by a strong base like an alkoxide.

Example

The most important type of transesterfication economically is the production of biodiesel from triglycerides. Chemically, triglycerides are esters of glycerol and long chain fatty acids like palmitic acid. Transesterfication makes these into fatty acid methyl esters and glycerol.

A simplified view of this transesterfication would be

(C16H33O)3C3H5O3 + 3 CH3OH → C3H5(OH)3 + 3 C16H33OOCH3

Here, the starting reagents are the ester glycerol tripalmitate (palmitoyl group shown in red) and the alcohol methanol (methoxy group shown in blue). The final ester is methyl palmitate, and the byproduct alcohol is glycerol.

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