Phenol terminated diester compositions derived from discarboxylic acids,

Abstract

The present invention is directed towards a process for preparing non-liquid crystalline phenol-terminated diester compositions characterized by the structure of formula 1: ##STR1## wherein R is an aliphatic divalent hydrocarbon radical containing 2 to 40 carbon atoms or a mixture of such radicals, provided however that R contains at least about 8 carbon atoms when n is 0 and p is 0, R.sub.1 is an aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing 2 to 40 carbon atoms or a mixture of such radicals, R.sub.2 is an aliphatic, aromatic or a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon radicals having from 2 to 40 carbon atoms, A is divalent aromatic radical selected from the group consisting of phenylene, naphthylene or his phenylene, p is 0 or 1, n is 0 or an integer ranging from 1 to about 40, provided however, that p is 0 when n is 0 and p is 1 when n is an integer. The invention is also directed to a single stage direct esterification or multi stage esterification processes for producing the aforementioned diesters of formula 1 either with or without the use of esterification catalysts, and is particularly directed to such processes for preparing diesters of reduced color using a low temperature process in combination with catalyst systems containing a phosphorous acid or derivative thereof.