Modeling of Toluene Sulfonic Acid Catalyzed Oxide Addition Reaction for Soy-Based Polyol

Polyol oligomers formed from reactions of mono-, di-, and triethylene glycols with epoxidized soybean oil were synthesized and the reaction conversions were modeled. The data verified the effectiveness of a model that is based on the simultaneous solution of eight ordinary differential equations. In addition, the data demonstrated that di- and triethylene glycols produced lower viscosity oligomers than monoethylene glycol. Since the model is fundamentally based, it provides insight into the reaction mechanisms and allows for simulation of reaction conditions with reasonable extrapolation. Within the accuracy of the data, the reaction rate coefficients for all alcohol and epoxy moieties were equal, independent of the molecule to which they were attachedreaction rates varied based only on temperature and dilution of reacting moieties. The model provides an effective means to simulating concentration, viscosity, and temperature profiles including estimates of degrees of polymerization, which are dependent on a parameter related to inter versus intra-oligomerization.