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	<front>
		<journal-meta>
			<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">GYA</journal-id>
			<journal-title-group>
				<journal-title>Grasas y Aceites</journal-title>
				<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">Grasas y Aceites</abbrev-journal-title>
			</journal-title-group>
			<issn publication-format="electronic">1988-4214</issn>
			<issn-l>0017-3495</issn-l>
			<publisher>
				<publisher-name>Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient&#xed;ficas</publisher-name>
			</publisher>
		</journal-meta>
		<article-meta>
			<article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">gya.1007202</article-id>
			<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3989/gya.1007202</article-id>
			<article-categories>
				<subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
					<subject>Research</subject>
				</subj-group>
			</article-categories>
			<title-group>
				<article-title>Solvent-free synthesis of oleic acid-based wax esters using recyclable acidic deep eutectic solvent</article-title>
				<trans-title-group xml:lang="es">
					<trans-title>S&#xed;ntesis libre de solventes de ceras a base de &#xe1;cido oleico utilizando &#xe1;cido eut&#xe9;ctico profundo recyclable</trans-title>
				</trans-title-group>
			</title-group>
			<contrib-group>
				<contrib contrib-type="author">
					<contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5165-4053</contrib-id>
					<name>
						<surname>Li</surname>
						<given-names>Z.</given-names>
					</name>
					<aff id="aff1"><institution content-type="school">College of Food Science and Technology</institution>, <institution>Henan University of Technology</institution>, <addr-line>Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou, 450001</addr-line>, <country>P. R. China</country></aff>
				</contrib>
				<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
					<contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1706-1208</contrib-id>
					<name>
						<surname>Liu</surname>
						<given-names>W.</given-names>
					</name>
					<email xlink:href="liuwei307@hotmail.com">liuwei307@hotmail.com</email>
					<aff id="aff2"><institution content-type="school">College of Food Science and Technology</institution>, <institution>Henan University of Technology</institution>, <addr-line>Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou, 450001</addr-line>, <country>P. R. China</country></aff>
				</contrib>
				<contrib contrib-type="author">
					<contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6115-7365</contrib-id>
					<name>
						<surname>Yang</surname>
						<given-names>G.</given-names>
					</name>
					<email xlink:href="ygl88888@haut.edu.cn">ygl88888@haut.edu.cn</email>
					<aff id="aff3"><institution content-type="school">College of Food Science and Technology</institution>, <institution>Henan University of Technology</institution>, <addr-line>Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou, 450001</addr-line>, <country>P. R. China</country></aff>
				</contrib>
			</contrib-group>
			<pub-date pub-type="epub">
				<day>26</day>
				<month>02</month>
				<year>2022</year>
			</pub-date>
			<pub-date pub-type="collection">
				<month>03</month>
				<year>2022</year>
			</pub-date>
			<volume>73</volume>
			<issue>1</issue>
			<elocation-id>e444</elocation-id>
			<history>
				<date date-type="received">
					<day>07</day>
					<month>10</month>
					<year>2020</year>
				</date>
				<date date-type="accepted">
					<day>20</day>
					<month>01</month>
					<year>2021</year>
				</date>
				<date date-type="pub">
					<day>31</day>
					<month>03</month>
					<year>2022</year>
				</date>
			</history>
			<permissions>
				<copyright-statement>&#xa9;2022 CSIC</copyright-statement>
				<copyright-year>2022</copyright-year>
				<license license-type="open-access" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">
					<license-p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.</license-p>
				</license>
			</permissions>
			<self-uri xlink:href="http://grasasyaceites.revistas.csic.es/index.php/grasasyaceites/article/view/XXXX/XXXX"/>
			<abstract>
				<title>Summary</title>
				<p>Wax esters have been widely used in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. Oleic acid wax esters can be used to replace spermaceti oil or jojoba oil. In this work, the acidic deep eutectic solvent (DES) composed of choline chloride and <italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid (1:4, mol/mol) was used as an efficient recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of oleic acid-based liquid wax esters through an esterification reaction. The esterification conversion of cetyl alcohol reached 99.1% under the following optimal reaction conditions: 5% DES as catalyst, molar ratio of fatty acid to alcohol of 1.3:1 and reaction temperature of 70 <sup>o</sup>C for 3h. The catalyst recovery experiments showed that this low-price acidic DES catalyst could be reused five times with uniform activity. Moreover, DES-catalyzed solvent-free esterification could be applied in the preparation of other oleic acid-based wax esters and excellent conversions (&gt; 96%) could be obtained under such mild conditions.</p>
			</abstract>
			<trans-abstract xml:lang="es">
				<title>Resumen</title>
				<p>Las ceras se han utilizado ampliamente en productos cosm&#xe9;ticos y farmac&#xe9;uticos. Las ceras de &#xe1;cido oleico se pueden utilizar para reemplazar al espermaceti o al aceite de jojoba. En este trabajo se utiliz&#xf3; el &#xe1;cido eut&#xe9;ctico profundo (DES) compuesto por cloruro de colina y &#xe1;cido <italic>p</italic>-toluensulf&#xf3;nico (1:4, mol/mol) como un catalizador reciclable eficiente para la s&#xed;ntesis de ceras l&#xed;quida a base de &#xe1;cido oleico mediante reacci&#xf3;n de esterificaci&#xf3;n. La conversi&#xf3;n de esterificaci&#xf3;n del alcohol cet&#xed;lico podr&#xed;a alcanzar el 99,1% en las condiciones &#xf3;ptimas de reacci&#xf3;n, mostrada como sigue: 5% de DES como catalizador, relaci&#xf3;n molar de &#xe1;cido graso a alcohol de 1,3:1 y temperatura de reacci&#xf3;n de 70 <italic>&#xba;</italic>C durante 3 h. Es importante destacar que los experimentos de recuperaci&#xf3;n del catalizador mostraron que este catalizador DES &#xe1;cido de bajo precio podr&#xed;a reutilizarse cinco veces con una actividad uniforme. Adem&#xe1;s, la esterificaci&#xf3;n sin disolvente catalizada por DES podr&#xed;a aplicarse en la preparaci&#xf3;n de otras ceras a base de &#xe1;cido oleico y podr&#xed;an obtenerse excelentes conversiones (&gt; 96%) en tales condiciones suaves.</p>
			</trans-abstract>
			<kwd-group>
				<kwd>Liquid wax esters</kwd>
				<kwd>Esterification</kwd>
				<kwd>Deep eutectic solvents</kwd>
				<kwd>Solvent-free</kwd>
				<kwd>p-toluenesulfonic acid</kwd>
			</kwd-group>
			<kwd-group xml:lang="es">
				<kwd>&#xc1;cido p-toluensulf&#xf3;nico</kwd>
				<kwd>Cera l&#xed;quida</kwd>
				<kwd>Disolventes eut&#xe9;cticos profundos</kwd>
				<kwd>Esterificaci&#xf3;n</kwd>
				<kwd>Libre de disolventes</kwd>
			</kwd-group>
			<funding-group id="fw-01">
				<award-group id="aw1">
					<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
					<award-id>2018T110730</award-id>
				</award-group>
				<award-group id="aw2">
					<funding-source>China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project</funding-source>
					<award-id>2014003</award-id>
				</award-group>
				<funding-statement>This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2018T110730) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (No.2014003).</funding-statement>
			</funding-group>
			<counts>
				<fig-count count="8"/>
				<table-count count="3"/>
				<equation-count count="3"/>
				<ref-count count="35"/>
				<page-count count="10"/>
			</counts>
		</article-meta>
	</front>
	<body>
		<sec id="sec1" sec-type="intro">
			<label>1.</label>
			<title>Introduction</title>
			<p>Wax esters are the main components of natural waxes, which are composed of long-chain (&gt;12 carbon atoms) fatty acids and alcohols (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">Doan <italic>et al.</italic>, 2017</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Gunawan <italic>et al.</italic>, 2005</xref>). Wax esters are widely used in many fields. For example, they are the key ingredients in lipsticks and moisturizers in cosmetic formulations (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">Li, 1999</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">Keng <italic>et al.</italic>, 2009</xref>). In the pharmaceutical industry, wax esters are used as anti-foaming agents in penicillin production (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">Ungcharoenwiwat and H-Kittikun, 2013</xref>). In addition, wax esters are widely used in the food industry as lubricants, polishes and plasticizers (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Salis <italic>et al.</italic>, 2003</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4">Canizares <italic>et al.</italic>, 2020</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">Mandu <italic>et al.</italic>, 2020</xref>).</p>
			<p>Wax esters are classified as saturated wax esters or unsaturated wax esters depending on their degree of unsaturation. The main raw materials of natural unsaturated wax esters are spermaceti oil and jojoba oil (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1">Aissa <italic>et al.</italic>, 2012</xref>). However, the sperm whale is an endangered species, and the whaling ban has prompted researchers to look for the alternatives to natural spermaceti oil (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">Papadaki <italic>et al.</italic>, 2017</xref>). Jojoba oil has some similar properties to spermaceti oil, and can be used as a good substitute. However, the main limitations to the use of jojoba oil are its cost and availability (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">Keng <italic>et al.</italic>, 2009</xref>). Therefore, it is highly desirable to produce unsaturated wax esters using a chemically synthesize method.</p>
			<p>The synthesis of wax esters has been studied for the past decades (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">Lima <italic>et al.</italic>, 2018</xref>). Wax esters can be synthesized via chemical (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3">Aracil <italic>et al.</italic>, 1992</xref>) and enzymatic methods (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">Poisson <italic>et al.</italic>, 1999</xref>). Although the enzymatic reaction is mild, it also has many disadvantages, such as longer reaction time, use of organic solvents and high cost (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Salis e<italic>t al.</italic>, 2003</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">Deng <italic>et al.</italic>, 2011</xref>). Traditionally, conventional chemical catalysts such as mineral acids (e.g., H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>), organic acids (e.g., <italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid) and heterogeneous catalysts (e.g., ion exchange resins, zeolites) are used as esterification catalysts (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">Al-Arafi and Salimon, 2012</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">Khalkar <italic>et al.</italic>, 2012</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Kolah <italic>et al.</italic>, 2007</xref>). However, these traditional acid-catalysts have many problems, such as difficulty in catalyst recovery or separation and side reactions (Ieda <italic>et al.</italic>, 2018).</p>
			<p>In recent years, acidic ionic liquids have been used for the synthesis of wax ester (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">Kohno <italic>et al.</italic>, 2019</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">Y&#x131;ld&#x131;r&#x131;m <italic>et al.</italic>, 2018</xref>). For example, Br&#xf8;nsted acidic ionic liquid ([C<sub>16</sub>ImSO<sub>3</sub>H]Cl) has been used to synthesize wax esters from stearic acid with myristyl alcohol (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">Y&#x131;ld&#x131;r&#x131;m <italic>et al.</italic>, 2018</xref>). However, ionic liquids (ILs) also have some limitations, such as high cost and complex preparation process (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">Han and Armstrong, 2007</xref>). As a new generation of ionic liquid or its substitute, deep eutectic solvent (DES) has attracted attention because of its unique physicochemical properties, such as biodegradability, non-toxic and non-volatile (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B35">Zhang <italic>et al.</italic>, 2012</xref>). DESs are usually composed of hydrogen bond donors (HBD) (such as alcohols, carboxylic acids, or metal halides) and salts (such as choline chloride), which exhibit high purity and environmentally friendly properties (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">&#xdc;nl&#xfc; <italic>et al.</italic>, 2019</xref>). DESs have been widely used in many fields, such as extraction (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Hadi <italic>et al.</italic>, 2015</xref>), separation (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">Shishov <italic>et al.</italic>, 2017</xref>), catalysis (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Sert, 2015</xref>) and CO<sub>2</sub> absorption (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">Isaifan and Amhamed, 2018</xref>). For instance, DESs have been successfully used as catalyst for the esterification of carboxylic acid with simple alcohols (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Santi <italic>et al.</italic>, 2012</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">Sunitha <italic>et al.</italic>, 2007</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">Yasmin <italic>et al.</italic>, 2018</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B32">Williamson <italic>et al.</italic>, 2017</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">Pan <italic>et al.</italic>, 2016</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">Cao <italic>et al.</italic>, 2016</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">Tang <italic>et al.</italic>, 2014</xref>).</p>
			<p>With the aim of developing low-cost and sustainable catalysts for the preparation of liquid wax esters, an efficient synthesis of oleic acid-based wax esters using choline-based DESs as catalyst under mild conditions was investigated in this work. The DES composed of choline chloride and <italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid could promote the synthesis of wax esters through esterification of oleic acid with various long-chain fatty alcohols (e.g., cetyl alcohol) in solvent-free conditions. Recovery of the acidic DES catalyst was examined as well.</p>
		</sec>
		<sec id="sec2" sec-type="materials|methods">
			<label>2.</label>
			<title>Materials and methods</title>
			<sec id="sec2.1">
				<label>2.1.</label>
				<title>Materials</title>
				<p>Oleic acid (80%) and cetyl alcohol (99%) were purchased from Aladdin Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). Choline chloride (99%), zinc chloride (ZnCl<sub>2</sub>, 99%), zinc bromide (ZnBr<sub>2</sub>, 98%), and <italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA, 98%) were purchased from Macklin Biochemical Co. Ltd (Shanghai, China). Oleic acid (99%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. Ltd (Shanghai, China). Methanol, anhydrous sodium sulfate (Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) and methanesulfonic acid (MSA, 98%) with analytical purity were purchased from Tianjin Kemiou Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd (Tianjin, China). Lauryl alcohol (99%), myristyl alcohol (98%) and stearyl alcohol (98%) were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). The <italic>n</italic>-hexane used was of HPLC grade, while other chemicals were of analytical reagent grade.</p>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec2.2">
				<label>2.2.</label>
				<title>Preparation of the deep eutectic solvents (DESs)</title>
				<p>The DESs based on choline chloride and hydrogen bond donors (HBD) with different molar ratios were prepared by continuously stirring in an oil bath at 80 <sup>o</sup>C until a uniform and transparent liquid was formed. The compositions of the acidic DESs used in this work are shown in <xref ref-type="table" rid="t1">Table 1</xref>.</p>
				<table-wrap id="t1">
					<label>Table 1</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Composition of the DESs used in this work</title>
					</caption>
					<table>
						<colgroup>
							<col/>
							<col/>
							<col/>
							<col/>
						</colgroup>
						<thead>
							<tr>
								<th align="center">Abbreviation</th>
								<th align="center">HBA</th>
								<th align="center">HBD</th>
								<th align="center">Molar ratio</th>
							</tr>
						</thead>
						<tbody>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-1</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">Zinc chloride </td>
								<td align="center">1:2</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-2</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">Zinc bromide </td>
								<td align="center">1:2</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-3</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">
									<italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid</td>
								<td align="center">1:1</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-4</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">Methanesulfonic acid</td>
								<td align="center">1:2</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-5</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">
									<italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid</td>
								<td align="center">1:2</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-6</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">
									<italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid</td>
								<td align="center">1:3</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-7</td>
								<td align="center">Choline chloride</td>
								<td align="center">
									<italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid</td>
								<td align="center">1:4</td>
							</tr>
						</tbody>
					</table>
					<table-wrap-foot>
						<fn id="TFN1">
							<p>DES-deep eutectic solvent; HBA-hydrogen bond acceptor; HBD-hydrogen bond donors.</p>
						</fn>
					</table-wrap-foot>
				</table-wrap>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec2.3">
				<label>2.3.</label>
				<title>Synthesis of wax esters</title>
				<p>1.5 mmol of oleic acid (0.42g), 1.0 mmol of cetyl alcohol (0.24g) and catalyst 10% (w/w) of cetyl alcohol (0.024g) were added into the reaction tube. Then the mixture was heated with stirring in the aluminum heating block at 60 <sup>o</sup>C for 2 h. After the reaction, the mixture was cooled to room temperature and the product was extracted with <italic>n</italic>-hexane. The <italic>n</italic>-hexane layer (wax ester layer) was washed with warm distilled water more than three times to remove the catalyst until the aqueous solution was neutral. Before the product was analyzed, <italic>n</italic>-hexane was removed with a rotary evaporator under reduced pressure. Finally, the product was dried and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC).</p>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec2.4">
				<label>2.4.</label>
				<title>Analytical methods</title>
				<sec id="sec2.4.1">
					<label>2.4.1.</label>
					<title>Determination of wax esters</title>
					<p>The contents of wax esters, fatty acids and alcohols in the reaction mixture were quantified using a GC-7890B gas chromatography (Agilent) equipped with a DB-1ht capillary column (28 m&#xd7;250 &#x3bc;m&#xd7;0.1 &#x3bc;m) and a flame ionizing detector (FID). The column temperature was programmed at 100 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C, held for 0 min, increased to 180 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C at a rate of 10 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C&#xb7;min<sup>-1</sup>, maintained for 2 min; then increased to 230 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C at 10 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C&#xb7;min<sup>-1</sup>; finally elevated to 330 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C at 20 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C&#xb7;min<sup>-1</sup>, and held for 2 min. The injector and detector temperatures were set at 350 and 360 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C, respectively.</p>
					<p>The content of the product was quantified with hexadecane as the internal standard. The residual of cetyl alcohol was calculated by the <xref ref-type="disp-formula" rid="e1">equation</xref>:</p>
					<disp-formula id="e1">
						<mml:math id="mml-1">
							<mml:msub>
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>M</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
							</mml:msub>
							<mml:mo>=</mml:mo>
							<mml:mi>f</mml:mi>
							<mml:mo>&#xd7;</mml:mo>
							<mml:msub>
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>m</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>s</mml:mi>
									<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
							</mml:msub>
							<mml:mo>&#xd7;</mml:mo>
							<mml:mfrac>
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>A</mml:mi>
									<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>A</mml:mi>
									<mml:mi>s</mml:mi>
									<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
							</mml:mfrac>
							<mml:mo>,</mml:mo>
						</mml:math>
					</disp-formula>
					<p>where <italic>M</italic>
						<sub>
							<italic>i</italic>
						</sub> is the mass of residue cetyl alcohol, <italic>m</italic>
						<sub>
							<italic>si</italic>
						</sub> is the mass of the internal standard hexadecane, <italic>A</italic>
						<sub>
							<italic>i</italic>
						</sub> and <italic>A</italic>
						<sub>
							<italic>si</italic>
						</sub> are the peak area of cetyl alcohol and hexadecane, respectively, <italic>f</italic> is the response factor:</p>
					<disp-formula id="e2">
						<mml:math id="mml-2">
							<mml:mfenced separators="|">
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi>f</mml:mi>
									<mml:mo>=</mml:mo>
									<mml:mfrac bevelled="true">
										<mml:mrow>
											<mml:mfrac>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:msub>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>A</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>s</mml:mi>
															<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
													</mml:msub>
												</mml:mrow>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:msub>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>M</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>s</mml:mi>
															<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
													</mml:msub>
												</mml:mrow>
											</mml:mfrac>
										</mml:mrow>
										<mml:mrow>
											<mml:mfrac>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:msub>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>A</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
													</mml:msub>
												</mml:mrow>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:msub>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>M</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
														<mml:mrow>
															<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
														</mml:mrow>
													</mml:msub>
												</mml:mrow>
											</mml:mfrac>
										</mml:mrow>
									</mml:mfrac>
								</mml:mrow>
							</mml:mfenced>
						</mml:math>
					</disp-formula>
					<p>The conversion of cetyl alcohol was calculated by <xref ref-type="disp-formula" rid="e3">equation</xref> shown below:</p>
					<disp-formula id="e3">
						<mml:math id="mml-3">
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">C</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">n</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">v</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">e</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">r</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">n</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">&#xa0;</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">f</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">&#xa0;</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">c</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">e</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">t</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">y</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">l</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">&#xa0;</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">a</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">l</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">c</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">h</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi>
							<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">l</mml:mi>
							<mml:mfenced separators="|">
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mi mathvariant="normal">%</mml:mi>
								</mml:mrow>
							</mml:mfenced>
							<mml:mo>=</mml:mo>
							<mml:mfenced separators="|">
								<mml:mrow>
									<mml:mn>1</mml:mn>
									<mml:mo>-</mml:mo>
									<mml:mfrac>
										<mml:mrow>
											<mml:msub>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:mi>M</mml:mi>
												</mml:mrow>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:mi>i</mml:mi>
												</mml:mrow>
											</mml:msub>
										</mml:mrow>
										<mml:mrow>
											<mml:msub>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:mi>M</mml:mi>
												</mml:mrow>
												<mml:mrow>
													<mml:mn>0</mml:mn>
												</mml:mrow>
											</mml:msub>
										</mml:mrow>
									</mml:mfrac>
								</mml:mrow>
							</mml:mfenced>
							<mml:mi>*</mml:mi>
							<mml:mn>100</mml:mn>
							<mml:mi>%</mml:mi>
						</mml:math>
					</disp-formula>
					<p>Where <italic>M</italic>
						<sub>
							<italic>0</italic>
						</sub> is the total mass of cetyl alcohol.</p>
				</sec>
				<sec id="sec2.4.2">
					<label>2.4.2.</label>
					<title>Characterization of purified wax esters</title>
					<p>
						<sup>1</sup>H NMR and <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectroscopy were used to characterize the wax esters. <sup>1</sup>H NMR spectra were recorded on Bruker NMR spectrometer (500 MHz). Chemical shifts were recorded in parts per million (ppm) referenced to 0.0 ppm for tetramethylsilane (TMS). The <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectra were recorded on a Bruker NMR spectrometer (125 MHz). Chemical shifts were reported in ppm referenced to the center line of a triplet at 77.16 ppm of Chloroform-d.</p>
				</sec>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec2.5">
				<label>2.5.</label>
				<title>Recovery of DES catalyst</title>
				<p>For investigating the reusability of acidic DES catalyst, the reaction mixture was extracted with <italic>n</italic>-hexane into a separation funnel after the reaction was terminated. As obvious stratification occurred, the lower layer (DES phase) was used for the next batch of esterification experiments after drying in vacuo at 60 <sup>o</sup>C for 3h.</p>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec2.6">
				<label>2.6.</label>
				<title>Statistical analysis</title>
				<p>All the experiments were replicated three times, and the results are expressed as mean &#xb1; standard deviation (SD). The ANOVA analysis was performed at 95% confidence level (p &lt; 0.05), along with Duncan for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS).</p>
			</sec>
		</sec>
		<sec id="sec3" sec-type="results|discussion">
			<label>3.</label>
			<title>Results and discussion</title>
			<sec id="sec3.1">
				<label>3.1.</label>
				<title>The composition of oleic acid</title>
				<p>The commercial oleic acid (technical grade, ~80%) used in this experiment was analyzed by the GC method after methylation (<xref ref-type="table" rid="t2">Table 2</xref>). The fatty acid composition showed that the purity of oleic acid purchased (technical grade) was 79.16%, which met the demand of the large-scale preparation of wax esters. In fact, such purity of oleic acid (technical grade) was suitable for the preparation of liquid wax esters owing to its low price.</p>
				<table-wrap id="t2">
					<label>Table 2</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Composition analysis of oleic acid (industrial purity) *</title>
					</caption>
					<table>
						<colgroup>
							<col/>
							<col/>
							<col/>
						</colgroup>
						<thead>
							<tr>
								<th align="left">Fatty acids</th>
								<th align="center">Structure</th>
								<th align="center">Content (wt%)</th>
							</tr>
						</thead>
						<tbody>
							<tr>
								<td align="left">Lauric acid</td>
								<td align="center">C12:0</td>
								<td align="center">1.92&#xb1;0.09<sup>d</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="left">Myristic acid</td>
								<td align="center">C14:0</td>
								<td align="center">0.41&#xb1;0.01<sup>e</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="left">Palmitic acid</td>
								<td align="center">C16:0</td>
								<td align="center">4.44&#xb1;0.07<sup>c</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="left">Stearic acid</td>
								<td align="center">C18:0</td>
								<td align="center">1.89&#xb1;0.05<sup>d</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="left">Oleic acid</td>
								<td align="center">C18:1</td>
								<td align="center">79.09&#xb1;0.09<sup>a</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="left">Linoleic acid</td>
								<td align="center">C18:2</td>
								<td align="center">12.24&#xb1;0.06<sup>b</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
						</tbody>
					</table>
					<table-wrap-foot>
						<fn id="TFN2">
							<p>Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
						</fn>
						<fn id="TFN3">
							<p>*Values are means &#xb1; SD of composition analysis of oleic acid individually in three replicates. Duncan&#x2019;s test was used for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS).</p>
						</fn>
					</table-wrap-foot>
				</table-wrap>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.2">
				<label>3.2.</label>
				<title>Screening of DES catalysts</title>
				<p>The esterification of oleic acid and cetyl alcohol to synthesize wax esters was selected as the model reaction to optimize the reaction conditions (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f1">Figure 1</xref>). Firstly, the effects of different DESs on the conversion of cetyl alcohol were studied. DESs were synthesized by combining ChCl with different HBDs (<xref ref-type="table" rid="t1">Table 1</xref>). As shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="f2">Figure 2</xref>, seven acidic DESs (DES-1~DES-7) were used to catalyze the esterification of oleic acid and cetyl alcohol to synthesize wax ester (cetyl oleate). The catalytic efficiency of Lewis acidic DESs (DES-1: ChCl/ZnCl<sub>2</sub>, DES-2: ChCl/ZnBr<sub>2</sub>) was lower than that of Br&#xf8;nsted acidic DESs (DES-4: ChCl/MSA; DES-3, DES-5~7: ChCl/PTSA). For Br&#xf8;nsted acidic DES, the catalytic efficiency of PTSA-based DESs (DES-3, DES-5~7) were better than that of MSA-based DESs. Indeed, the original <italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid was more acidic than methanesulfonic acid. With the increase in the molar ratio of ChCl to PTSA (1:1 to 1:4), the catalytic efficiency of PTSA-based DESs was enhanced. The results showed that PTSA-based DES(DES-7) had the highest conversion (89.6%) (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f2">Figure 2</xref>). Therefore, DES-7 (ChCl/PTSA=1:4, mol/mol) was chosen as the best catalyst for the synthesis of wax ester.</p>
				<fig id="f1">
					<label>Figure 1</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Esterification of oleic acid and cetyl alcohol.</title>
						<p>DES-deep eutectic solvent</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-1" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf1.png"/>
				</fig>
				<fig id="f2">
					<label>Figure 2</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Effects of DES on the esterification of oleic acid and cetyl alcohol.</title>
						<p>Reaction conditions: temperature 60 &#xba;C, molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol 1.5:1, catalyst10% (w/w) cetyl alcohol, reaction time 2h. Values are means &#xb1; SD of conversions of cetyl alcohol individually in three times. Duncan for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-2" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf2.png"/>
				</fig>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.3">
				<label>3.3.</label>
				<title>Effect of reaction temperature</title>
				<p>It is well known that reaction temperature plays a crucial role in exothermic reactions such as esterification. Therefore, the effect of reaction temperature was studied (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f3">Figure 3a</xref>). The results showed that the occurrence of esterification reaction was found to be slow when the temperature was lower than 50 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C, which might be because the melting point of cetyl alcohol (50 <bold>&#xba;</bold>C) prevented the reaction process. When the reaction temperature was increased from 50 &#xba;C to 70 &#xba;C, the conversion of cetyl alcohol was increased significantly (97.8%). Continuing increase of the reaction temperature to 80 &#xba;C caused the conversion of cetyl alcohol to remain unchanged. Therefore, 70 &#xba;C was chosen as the suitable reaction temperature for the esterification reaction of oleic acid and cetyl alcohol. Comparison with the previous esterifications using Lewis acidic ionic liquid ChCl/ZnCl<sub>2</sub> or [C<sub>16</sub>ImSO<sub>3</sub>H]Cl as catalysts conducted at 110 &#xba;C (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">Sunitha <italic>et al.</italic>, 2007</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">Y&#x131;ld&#x131;r&#x131;m <italic>et al.</italic>, 2018</xref>) resulted in a more mild (70 &#xba;C) reaction temperature.</p>
				<fig id="f3">
					<label>Figure 3</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Effects of (a) reaction temperature, (b) amount of DES, (c) reaction time, (d) molar ratio of acid-to-alcohol on the conversion of cetyl alcohol.</title>
						<p>Reaction conditions: (a) 1.5:1, DES-7 concentration10% (w/w), 2h; (b) 70 &#xba;C, 1.5:1, 2h; (c) 70 &#xba;C, DES-7 concentration 5% (w/w), 1.5:1; (d) 70 &#xba;C, DES-7 concentration 5% (w/w), 3h. Values are means &#xb1; SD of conversions of cetyl alcohol individually in three replicates. Duncan&#x2019;s test was used for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-3" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf3.png"/>
				</fig>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.4">
				<label>3.4.</label>
				<title>Effect of the amount of DES catalyst</title>
				<p>The amount of catalyst was evaluated in order to achieve the highest conversion of cetyl alcohol (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f3">Figure 3b</xref>). As the amount of DES-7 was increased (1-5%, w/w), the conversion of cetyl alcohol was increased (6.9-96.7%). However, further increase in the amount of DES-7 (10-20%, w/w) had no significant improvement on the conversion of cetyl alcohol (97.7-97.8%). Therefore, 5% DES-7 was selected as the optimal amount of catalyst for such esterification reactions.</p>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.5">
				<label>3.5.</label>
				<title>Effect of reaction time</title>
				<p>Reaction time is also one of the important factors for the reaction conditions. The reaction time varied from 0.5 to 4h to evaluate the suitable reaction conditions (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f3">Figure 3c</xref>). The conversion of cetyl alcohol was increased rapidly (76.0-99.1%) when the reaction time was increased from 0.5 to 3h. But further prolonging the reaction time (4h) led to no further increment in the conversion of cetyl alcohol. It was observed that the conversion of cetyl alcohol reached its maximum (99.1%) after a reaction time of 3h. Therefore, 3h was chosen as the optimal reaction time for the esterification reaction.</p>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.6">
				<label>3.6.</label>
				<title>Effect of molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol</title>
				<p>As the molar ratio of substrates is also one of the important factors affecting the conversion of cetyl alcohol, the molar ratio of substrates (oleic acid/cetyl alcohol) was studied (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f3">Figure 3d</xref>). When the molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol was 1:1, a higher conversion of 97.2% was detected. When the molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol was increased from 1:1 to 1.3:1, the conversions of cetyl alcohol were increased from 97.2 to 99.1%. Then the conversion of cetyl alcohol exhibited no change as the molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol increased to 1.5:1. Because the esterification of oleic acid with cetyl alcohol was an equilibrium-limited chemical reaction, the use of an excess of oleic acid would be better to promote the conversion of cetyl alcohol. Notably, an excess amount of oleic acid could not only cause a waste of starting materials, but it also affects the separation and purification process of final wax ester products. Therefore, 1.3:1 was selected as the optimal molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol.</p>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.7">
				<label>3.7.</label>
				<title>Catalyst recovery</title>
				<p>The reusability of the acidic DES catalyst used in this work was evaluated and the results are listed in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="f4">Figure 4</xref>. DES containing ChCl and PTSA could be reused for the esterification of oleic acid with cetyl alcohol. It was found that the conversion of cetyl alcohol decreased slightly (93.9%) after re-using the DES catalyst five times. These results are in agreement with the observations described by Taysun <italic>et al</italic>. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">Taysun <italic>et al</italic>., 2017</xref>), who proved the good reusability of DES catalysts (4-8 cycles without any treatment) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">Sunitha <italic>et al.</italic>, 2007</xref>). Indeed, the above results demonstrated that the acidic DES catalyst had good catalytic activity and stability in the reaction using for several batches of esterification reactions. Importantly, the DES phase could be separated easily from the wax ester phase through static layering after the esterification reaction (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f5">Figure 5</xref>). Therefore, the acidic DES catalyst was also an efficient recyclable catalyst for esterification reactions.</p>
				<fig id="f4">
					<label>Figure 4</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Reusability of DES-7 for the esterification of oleic acid and cetyl alcohol.</title>
						<p>Reaction conditions: temperature was 70 &#xba;C, catalyst 5% (w/w) of cetyl alcohol, molar ratio of oleic acid to cetyl alcohol was 1.3:1, reaction time was 3h. Values are means &#xb1; SD of conversions of cetyl alcohol individually in three replicates. Duncan&#x2019;s test was used for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-4" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf4.png"/>
				</fig>
				<fig id="f5">
					<label>Figure 5</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Phase separation of DES-7 after the esterification reaction</title>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-5" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf5.png"/>
				</fig>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.8">
				<label>3.8.</label>
				<title>Comparison of acidic catalysts</title>
				<p>The catalytic activity of three acidic catalysts with the same amount of PTSA was compared (<xref ref-type="table" rid="t3">Table 3</xref>). The results showed that there was no significant difference in the catalytic activity of the three catalysts (DES-7, ChCl&amp;PTSA and PTSA). It could be observed that when PTSA was solely added as esterification catalyst, the final product&#x2019;s mixture presented a homogeneous system with a brown color (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f6">Figure 6c</xref>). However, with the addition of ChCl with PTSA as co-catalyst (ChCl&amp;PTSA) (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f6">Figure 6b</xref>), the products mixture presented a two-phase system with a light brown color. This phenomenon indicated that the added ChCl might form a deep eutectic solvent with PTSA <italic>in situ</italic>, thus producing the phase separation effect. Comparing <xref ref-type="fig" rid="f6">Figures 6a</xref> and <xref ref-type="fig" rid="f6">6b</xref>, there was little difference in the conversion of cetyl alcohol (96.4 and 97.3%). Both could cause the separation effect, but the color of the product mixture in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="f6">Figure 6a</xref> was light yellow, suggesting that less PTSA dissolved in the wax ester phase by using DES-7 as catalyst (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f6">Figure 6a</xref>). Therefore, the acidic DES composed of ChCl and PTSA (1:4, mol/mol) was selected as the best recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of wax ester and exhibited excellent phase separation ability.</p>
				<table-wrap id="t3">
					<label>Table 3</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Different catalysts used in the esterification*</title>
					</caption>
					<table>
						<colgroup>
							<col/>
							<col/>
						</colgroup>
						<thead>
							<tr>
								<th align="center">Catalyst</th>
								<th align="center">Conversions of cetyl alcohol (%)</th>
							</tr>
						</thead>
						<tbody>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">DES-7 (ChCl: PTSA=1:4) (<bold>a</bold>)</td>
								<td align="center">96.4&#xb1;0.14<sup>b</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">ChCl&amp;PTSA (<bold>b</bold>)</td>
								<td align="center">97.3&#xb1;0.28<sup>a</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
							<tr>
								<td align="center">PTSA (<bold>c</bold>)</td>
								<td align="center">97.8&#xb1;0.28<sup>a</sup>
								</td>
							</tr>
						</tbody>
					</table>
					<table-wrap-foot>
						<fn id="TFN4">
							<p>Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
						</fn>
						<fn id="TFN5">
							<p>*Values are means &#xb1; SD of conversions of cetyl alcohol individually in three replicates. Duncan&#x2019;s test was used for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Where DES-deep eutectic solvent; ChCl-Choline chloride; PTSA-<italic>p</italic>-toluenesulfonic acid.</p>
						</fn>
					</table-wrap-foot>
				</table-wrap>
				<fig id="f6">
					<label>Figure 6</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Phase separation of three acidic catalysts after esterification.</title>
						<p>(a): DES-7, (b): ChCl&amp;PTSA, (c): PTSA. Reaction conditions: temperature 70 &#xba;C, catalyst 5% (w/w) alcohol, molar ratio of oleic acid to alcohol was 1.3:1, reaction time was 3h. Values are means &#xb1; SD of conversions of cetyl alcohol individually in three replicates. Duncan&#x2019;s test was used for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-6" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf6.png"/>
				</fig>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.9">
				<label>3.9.</label>
				<title>Analysis and separation of cetyl oleate</title>
				<p>The gas chromatogram (GC) of the liquid wax ester (cetyl oleate) synthesized under the optimal conditions is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="f7">Figure 7</xref>. The unreacted fatty acid (oleic acid with purity of 99% was used here) and cetyl alcohol, and the product wax ester were identified at 5.82 min, 8.14 min and 18.14 min, respectively (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f7">Figure 7a</xref>), indicating that no side reaction occurred in the esterification reaction between oleic acid and cetyl alcohol catalyzed by the DES catalyst. After purified by silica gel column chromatography (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f7">Figure 7b</xref>), the cetyl oleate was obtained as a light-yellow liquid with a purity of 99%, which was identified by <sup>1</sup>HNMR and <sup>13</sup>CNMR.<sup>1</sup>H NMR (500MHz, CDCl<sub>3</sub>): <italic>&#x3b4;</italic>=0.86 (br t, 6H), 1.26 (br d, 46H),1.62(br t, 4H), 2.00 (br t, 4H), 2.28 (br t, 2H), 4.05 (tr, <italic>J</italic>=10Hz, 2H), 5.33-5.35 (br m, 2H). <sup>13</sup>CNMR (125MHz, CDCl<sub>3</sub>): <italic>&#x3b4;</italic>=14.25,22.84, 25.17, 26.09, 27.32, 27.37, 28.82, 29.26, 29.29, 29.32, 29.41, 29.47, 29.51, 29.68, 29.73, 29.81, 29.84, 29.92, 32.08, 34.55, 64.54, 129.89, 130.13, 174.10.</p>
				<fig id="f7">
					<label>Figure 7</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Gas chromatogram of cetyl oleate after esterification.</title>
						<p>(a) before purification, (b) purified with column chromatography. Purification condition: silica gel (200-300 mesh). Elution was carried using hexane/diethylether mixtures (80:20, v/v)</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-7" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf7.png"/>
				</fig>
			</sec>
			<sec id="sec3.10">
				<label>3.10.</label>
				<title>Preparation of different oleic acid-based wax esters</title>
				<p>Under the optimized reaction conditions, the substrate scope was examined as well (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="f8">Figure 8</xref>). The esterification reactions between oleic acid (99% purity) and various long-chain fatty alcohols were conducted. To our delight, the solvent-free esterification reactions catalyzed by DES-7 could afford excellent conversions for various long-chain fatty alcohols, including lauryl alcohol, myristyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol, and the conversions reached 96.4-99.1%. After purified by silica gel column chromatography, the liquid wax esters, including lauryl oleate, myristyl oleate and stearyl oleate were obtained with a purity of 99%. It was concluded that this acidic DES-catalyzed esterification reaction was an efficient and sustainable method for the preparation of liquid wax esters.</p>
				<fig id="f8">
					<label>Figure 8</label>
					<caption>
						<title>Esterification of oleic acid with long-chain alcohols.</title>
						<p>Reaction conditions: temperature 70 &#xba;C, catalyst 5% (w/w) alcohol, molar ratio of oleic acid to alcohol was 1.3:1, reaction time was 3h. Values are means &#xb1; SD of conversions of cetyl alcohol individually in three replicates. Duncan&#x2019;s test was used for comparisons between groups using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Different lower-case letters were significantly different (p&lt;0.05)</p>
					</caption>
					<graphic id="gra-8" xlink:href="GYA-73-01-e444-gf8.png"/>
				</fig>
			</sec>
		</sec>
		<sec id="sec4" sec-type="conclusions">
			<label>4.</label>
			<title>Conclusions</title>
			<p>In this work, the acidic DES composed of ChCl and PTSA (1:4, mol/mol) could be used as an efficient and recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of oleic acid-based liquid wax esters through esterification reaction. The esterification conversion of cetyl alcohol reached 99.1% under optimal reaction conditions as follows: 5% DES as catalyst, molar ratio of fatty acid to alcohol of 1.3:1, reaction temperature of 70 &#xba;C for 3h. The catalyst recovery experiments showed that this low-cost DES catalyst could be reused 5 times with uniform activity. Moreover, this solvent-free esterification could be used to the preparation of other oleic acid-based wax esters (lauryl oleate, myristyl oleate and stearyl oleate) and excellent conversions (&gt; 96%) were obtained under such mild conditions.</p>
		</sec>
	</body>
	<back>
		<ack>
			<title>Acknowledgments</title>
			<p>This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2018T110730) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (No.2014003).</p>
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