Abstract: Ethyl lactate is nontoxic，biodegradable，and has excellent solvent properties that can replace toxic and halogenated solvents for a wide range of industrial applications and consumer uses as a “green solvent”. The progress of preparation of ethyl lactate through chemical and bio-chemical methods from lactic acid and ammonium lactate is described in this paper. The advantage and disadvantage of synthesis of ethyl lactate from different raw materials and by different methods are discussed. The future research work of the synthesis of ethyl lactate is proposed.

摘要： 乳酸乙酯具有无毒、可生物降解、溶解性好等特点，在工业上可以作为 “绿色溶剂”取代目前使用的有毒有害的有机溶剂。结合作者课题组近年的研究工作，对以乳酸和乳酸铵两种物质为原料，通过化学法和生物法合成乳酸乙酯的国内外发展情况和最新研究成果进行了综述与分析。总结了以不同原料和不同方法合成乳酸乙酯的优点和不足，对乳酸乙酯合成的发展趋势进行了展望。