Esterification reaction between succinic acid[SA] and 1,4-butanediol [BD] was kinetically investigated in the presence of organometallic catalysts (ESCAT-100Ag18, MBTO) at 150~180℃. The reaction followed from the measurement of the quantity of water which was distilled from the reaction vessel. The esterification reaction was carried out under the first order kinetics with respect to the concentration of reactants and catalyst, respectively. The overall reaction order was 2nd. From the examination of relationship between apparent reaction rate constants and reciprocal absolute temperature, the activation energy has been calculated as 146.70 kJ/mol(ESCAT-100Ag18) and 87.57 kJ/mol(MBTO), respectively.

• Keun-Ho Park