A general highly efficient solvent-free esterification of phytosterols with edible magnesium oxide and Span-60 emulsifier catalyst system has been developed. The edible emulsifier dramatically promotes the catalyzing activity of the metal oxide in the reaction. The loading of the magnesium oxide is as low as 0.1 wt% to phytosterols and far lower than the known ones. As demonstrated by the results of scanning electro-microscopy (SEM), the synergistic effect of emulsifier and magnesium oxide presumably results from elimination of nano-scale interfacial barrier between phytosterols and fatty acids and facilitation of mass transfer of reaction agents. The mild, environmentally benign, and highly effective nature of this catalytic transformation suggests its great potential applications.

已经开发了一种可食用氧化镁和Span-60乳化剂催化剂体系对植物甾醇进行的一般高效无溶剂酯化。食用乳化剂极大地促进了反应中金属氧化物的催化活性。氧化镁的含量低至植物甾醇的0.1重量％，并且远低于已知的。如通过扫描电镜（SEM）的结果所证明的，乳化剂和氧化镁的协同作用大概是由于消除了植物甾醇和脂肪酸之间的纳米级界面屏障以及促进了反应剂的质量转移。这种催化转化的温和，对环境无害且高效的性质表明了其巨大的潜在应用前景。