In this study approaches for chemical conversions of the renewable compounds 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD) and 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) that yield the corresponding cyclic ketals and glycol ethers have been investigated experimentally. The characterization of the obtained products as potential green solvents and gasoline components is discussed. Cyclic ketals have been obtained by the direct reaction of the diols with lower aliphatic ketones (1,2-PD + acetone → 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-dioxolane (TMD) and 2,3-BD + butanone-2 → 2-ethyl-2,4,5-trimethyl-1,3-dioxolane (ETMD)), for which the ΔH0r, ΔS0r and ΔG0r values have been estimated experimentally. The monoethers of diols could be obtained through either hydrogenolysis of the pure ketals or from the ketone and the diol via reductive alkylation. In the both reactions, the cyclic ketals (TMD and ETMD) have been hydrogenated in nearly quantitative yields to the corresponding isopropoxypropanols (IPP) and 3-sec-butoxy-2-butanol (SBB) under mild conditions (T = 120–140 °C, p(H2) = 40 bar) with high selectivity (>93%). Four products (TMD, ETMD, IPP and SBB) have been characterized as far as their physical properties are concerned (density, melting/boiling points, viscosity, calorific value, evaporation rate, Antoine equation coefficients), as well as their solvent ones (Kamlet-Taft solvatochromic parameters, miscibility, and polymer solubilization). In the investigation of gasoline blending properties, TMD, ETMD, IPP and SBB have shown remarkable antiknock performance with blending antiknock indices of 95.2, 92.7, 99.2 and 99.7 points, respectively.
