| abstract |
A process for making non-phthalate, 1,2-phenylene oxo-diester plasticizers for polymer compositions, by selectively hydrogenating naphthalene to form a partially hydrogenated naphthalene, oxygenating said partially hydrogenated naphthalene to form phenylene diacids, and esterifying said phenylene diacids with oxo-alcohols to form 1,2-phenylene oxo-diesters. Also a process for making phenylene oxo-diester plasticizers by selectively brominating xylenes to form bisbromomethylbenzene, catalytic carboalkoxylation of the bromo-compound to form phenylene diacetate, followed by transesterification to form the phenylene oxo-diester. |