Determination of kinetic parameters for the reaction between phenol and formaldehyde by differential scanning calorimetry

✍ Scribed by A. Šebenik; I. Vizovišek; S. Lapanje

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 459 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-3057
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-3057(74)90117-7

✦ Synopsis

The kinetic parameters of the complex reaction between phenol and formaldehyde in the presence of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) have been obtained by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The two dominant reactions appear to be addition of formaldehyde to phenol with formation of o-hydroxymethyl-phenol and subsequent condensation of the latter. For both reactions, the activation energy (E,), reaction order and rate constants at different temperatures have been determined. E° for addition changes from 23.7 to 193 kcal mole -~ and for condensation from 22.9 to 19.1 kcal mole -1 when the amount of NaOH is increased from 0-25 to 1-00 per cent. The reaction order for addition is 2 and for condensation 1. Thus DSC appears useful for studying the kinetics of more complex polymerization reactions.