Clays as green catalysts in the cholesterol esterification: spectroscopic characterization and polymorphs identification by thermal analysis methods. An interdisciplinary laboratorial proposal for the undergraduate level

A laboratory experiment that enables the professor to introduce the problematic of sustainable development in pharmaceutical chemistry to undergraduate students is proposed, using a simple synthetic procedure. Cholesteryl acetate is prepared by the esterification of cholesterol using Montmorillonite K10 as heterogeneous catalyst. Cholesterol and cholesteryl acetate are characterized by spectroscopic (¹H RMN, 13C RMN, FTIR) and thermal analysis techniques. The thermal methods are used to introduce the concepts of polymorphism and the nature of mesophases.

green chemistry; cholesteryl acetate; polymorphism