US Patent 7321053 Process for the manufacture of tocyl and tocopheryl acylates

A process for the manufacture of a tocyl acylate or a tocopheryl acylate comprises reacting tocol or a tocopherol with an acylating agent in the presence of a solid heterogeneous Brönsted acid catalyst, said catalyst being an inorganic Brönsted acid on a solid carrier material which comprises silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide or both silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide, or being an organofunctional polysilonaxe featuring sulpho groups, the solid heterogeneous Brönsted acid catalyst further featuring a BET surface area from about 10 m2/g to about 800 m2/g and a pore volume from about 0.1 ml/g to about 2.0 ml/g. The main commercial form of vitamin E, being (all-rac)-α-tocopheryl acetate, can be manufactured by acylation of (all-rac)-α-tocopherol according to this process.