Esterification of sorbitol and lauric acid with catalystp-TSA

Abstract

Kinetics of the esterification of sorbitol with lauric acid in the presence ofp-TSA as a catalyst has been studied. A kinetic model of reversible second order reaction was proposed for the esterification. Parameters in the model (kinetic constants) were estimated by non-linear regression. The temperature dependence of the rate was calculated from the experimental constants estimated at various temperatures, using the Arrhenius equation. Experimental results are in good accordance with the proposed theoretical model.