Analysis of monoglyceride formation in the alcoholysis reaction by size exclusion chromatography with refractive index and diode array detection

The alcoholysis reaction is based on the rearrangement of a polyol and a vegetable oil in the presence of a catalyst and elevated temperature. The idealized product of the reaction is the monoglyceride, however there are varying amounts of diglyceride and the starting materials present after the reaction is said to be acceptable. To determine the reaction completeness, a Methanol Tolerance Test is performed, however this test does not provide information on the composition of the reaction mixture. To provide compositional information on the reaction mixture, Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) can be implemented since the chromatographic separation is based on molecular size. After separation of the reaction mixture, further analysis can be done on the monoglyceride peak with an Ultra-Violet Diode Array Detector (DAD) to possibly determine the degree and type of unsaturation by the UV activity of each specie present.; This work addresses issues of varying the alcoholysis reaction to produce pure monoglyceride and also develop a method implementing an SEC coupled with a DAD to trace the degree of completion in the reaction.