Ultrasound accelerated esterification of bile acids.

In this study power ultrasound accelerated esterification reactions of some model substances and bile acids were done. In the model reactions the best result was 19-fold increase in the reaction rate when using ultrasound and the temperature was allowed to rise during the irradiation. In the case of bile acid methyl esters a clear increase in the reaction rates was also observed by ultrasonic irradiations.