Abstract: The sucrose ester of rosin acid was prepared with K₂O/Al₂O₃ and Na₃PO₄/MgO solid base catalyst in the solvent of 1,2-propanediol. The effects of reaction temperature, catalyst loading amount, reaction time and mass ratio of rosin to sucrose on the synthesis of sucrose ester of rosin acid were discussed with esterification rate as index. The catalyst was characterized by SEM, BET and other methods, and the performances of emulsification, foaming and surface tension of sucrose ester of rosin acid were tested. Tests revealed that the specific surface areas of K₂O/Al₂O₃ and Na₃PO₄/MgO were 142.52 and 19.38m²/g. In the synthesis reaction of sucrose esters of rosin acid, the activity of catalyst K₂O/Al₂O₃ was higher than that of Na₃PO₄/MgO. The optimum synthesis conditions of the sucrose ester of rosin acid with K₂O/Al₂O₃ as catalyst were the reaction time 2.5h, reaction temperature 125℃, amount of catalyst K₂O/Al₂O₃ 3%, the mass fraction of K₂O in K₂O/Al₂O₃ 30%, the mass ratio of rosin and sucrose 1:2. The esterified rate mounted to 98% under the above optimum conditions. In the comparative study it was found that the sucrose ester of rosin acid exhibited stronger surface activity than sucrose fatty acid ester.

Key words: rosin acid, sucrose, sucrose ester of rosin acid, solid base