| Abstract: | A kinetic study of the reaction of cardanol and maleic anhydride (MA) (mole ratios 1:0.25, 1:0.5, 1:0.75, 1:1) was carried out at five different temperatures ranging between 160 and 180°C with an interval of 5°C using paratoluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) as a catalyst. The acid values of the samples were checked at a regular time intervals to check the percentage of the completion of the reaction. The influence of the condensation temperature on the synthesized resins was studied using infrared spectroscopic analysis. The reaction between cardanol and MA was found to obey first‐order rate kinetics. The specific rate constant (k) calculated by regression analysis was found to obey the Arrhenius expression. The thermodynamic parameters such as activation energy (Ea), frequency factor (Z), entropy (∆S), enthalpy (∆H), and free energy (∆G) were calculated. It was found that the reaction was spontaneous and irreversible. The experimental results were explained by proposing a reaction mechanism and deriving the rate equation. |
