Abstract: A novel acidic polyvinyl pyrrolidone-heteropolyacid hybrid catalyst PVP-PW was synthesized and characterized. The catalytic activity of the catalyst was measured in the esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol. The hybrid PVP-PW was demonstrated to be a highly efficient solid-liquid heterogeneous catalyst and exhibited high ester yield of 98.4% with perfect selectivity of 100%. After the reaction, the catalyst could be recovered simply by filtration and reused at least six times without a significant loss in the catalytic activity. In addition, this catalyst can be well applied to versatile carboxylic acids or alcohols for esterification.

Key words: heteropolyacid, pyrrolidone, Brönsted acidic catalyst, esterification, heterogeneous catalysis