John paul III - 1-5-2018 at 15:43
Hi guys
An idea came to me: since oxalic acid can be made from ethylene glycol with HNO3/H2SO4, maybe we can make ethylene glycol from oxalic acid? Oxalic
acid can be made by easier route(s), so this could be a nice alt source of EG. I hope you have suggestions!
[Edited on 1-5-2018 by John paul III]
DraconicAcid - 1-5-2018 at 15:58
Reduction of carboxylic acids, IIRC, requires things like lithium aluminum hydride. So, probably not.
Chemi Pharma - 1-5-2018 at 16:04
The only way I know to reduce acids to alcohols is using LiAlH4 or NaBH4 with metal salts catalist ligands like Ni+2, Cu+2, Zn+2 or Co+2.
But tell me a good reason to spend my money using this expensive reagents to do the reaction you sugested, if Ethylene Glycol is a so dirty cheap and
easy reagent to buy all over the world, even at a gas station or at supermarkets?