Study on the preparation of glycerylphosphorylcholine by transesterification under supported sodium methoxide

Abstract

Abstract Glycerylphosphorylcholine (GPC) was prepared by transesterification using supported sodium methoxide as catalyst and natural lecithin as raw material. Sodium methoxide has been proved to be an effective catalyst for the preparation of GPC, which is easy to recover and reuse. After six repeated uses, its stability is satisfactory. The effects of agitation speed, catalyst dosage, and reaction temperature on the reaction were investigated, respectively, and the optimum conditions for preparing GPC catalyzed by supported sodium methoxide were found: the concentration of phosphorylcholine was 0.1 mol·L−1, the stirring speed was 600 rpm, the amount of catalyst was 7.5 g·L−1, the reaction temperature was 45°C, and the reaction time was 4 h; then, the conversion rate of phosphatidylcholine could reach 99%. At the same time, the reaction kinetic model was established based on the mechanism of the transesterification, and the experimental data were compared with the calculated values; it was found that the experimental data fitted the model well. Finally, the reaction activation energy obtained by the Arrhenius equation is 41.6 kJ·mol−1, which indicates that the supported sodium methoxide has good catalytic performance in this reaction system.