Kinetics of the Mono-esterification Between Terephthalic Acid and 1,4-Butanediol

The chemical kinetics of the monoesterification between terephthalic acid (TPA) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) catalyzed by a metallo-organic compound was studied using the initial rate method. The experiments were carried out in the temperature range of 463-483 K, and butylhydroxyoxo-stannane (BuSnOOH) and tetrabutyl titanate [Ti(OBu)4] were used as catalyst respectively. The initial rates of the reaction catalyzed by BuSnOOH or Ti(OBu)4 were measured at a series of initial concentrations of BDO (or TPA) with the concentration of TPA (or BDO) kept constant. The reaction orders of reagents were determined by the initial rate method. The results indicate that the reaction order for TPA is related with the species of catalyst and it is 2 and 0.7 for BuSnOOH and Ti(OBu)4 respectively. However, the order for BDO is the same 0.9 for the two catalysts. Furthermore, the effects of temperature and catalyst concentration are investigated, and the activation energies and the reaction rate constants for the two catalysts were determined.