Preparation of alkyl glyceryl ether alcohols

Claim 1

A process for preparing n-alkyl glyceryl ether alcohols of the general formula: ##STR5## wherein R is a C 10 -C 20 n-alkyl radical and m is a number from 1 to about 10, which comprises the steps of bringing together and reacting a C 10 -C 20 n-alkyl primary alcohol and crude glycidol which is predissolved in a non-polar, non-reactive and miscible solvent selected from the group consisting of benzene, toluene, ortho-xylene, meta-xylene, para-xylene and mesitylene, in the presence of a basic catalyst in a reaction zone, said alcohol and glycidol being brought together and reacted in a molecular ratio within the range of from about 1:0.9 to about 1:10; maintaining the resulting reaction mass in an agitated condition; maintaining the temperature of the reaction mass within the range of from about 125° to about 180° C. during the reaction period; separating said non-polar solvent from the reaction mass; and recovering a C 10 -C 20 n-alkyl glyceryl ether alcohol product.