Synthesis and Kinetics of Hydrogenated Rosin Dodecyl Ester as an Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer

The plasticizer is an important polymer material additive. Non-toxic and environmentally friendly plasticizers are developed recently in order to decrease fossil fuel reserves, serious environmental pollution and the toxicity of phthalate esters. In this study, a new, efficient and environmentally friendly plasticizer of hydrogenated rosin dodecyl ester was prepared by an esterification reaction of hydrogenated rosin and dodecanol. The influences of different reaction conditions (including different catalysts, the catalyst concentration, the ratio of the reactants, reaction temperature, and reaction time) on the esterification yield are examined and discussed. Hydrogenated rosin dodecyl ester with 71.8% yield was synthesized under the optimized reaction conditions (1:0.8 molar ratio of rosin to dodecanol, 1 mol% tetrabutyl titanate concentration, and 210°C for 6 h). The esterification reaction is a second-order reaction, and kinetic calculations showed that the activation energy is 39.77 KJ·mol–1. The structure of the hydrogenated rosin dodecyl ester was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy and 13C NMR spectrum. Besides, the thermal stability of target product (hydrogenated rosin dodecyl ester) was also tested by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), which showed a good thermal stability.