Dioctyl Terephthalate commonly abbreviated DOTP or DEHT is a non-phthalate plasticizer, being the diester of terephthalic acid and the branched-chain 2-ethylhexanol. Dioctyl Terephthalate is known for chemical similarity to general purpose phthalates such as DEHP and DINP, but without any negative regulatory pressure. It possesses very good plasticizing properties and may be used as a direct replacemement for DEHP and DINP in many application.
Advantages of Dioctyl Terephthalate
Manufacturing
Dioctyle Terephathalae (DOTP) can be made by manufacturing methods, which are transesterification and direct esterification
Dioctyl Terephathale (DOTP) is produced using 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) and dimenthyl terephthalate (DMT) by transesterification with the reaction as below :
C6H4(CO)2(OCH3)2 + 2C8H170H -> C6H4(C02C8H17)2 + 2CH30H
Dioctyl Terephathale (DOP) can also be produced using purified terephathalic acid (PTA) and 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) with the reaction as below :
C6H4(C02H2)2 + 2C8H170H -> C6H4(C02C8H17)2 + 2H2O
DOTP is a general purpose plasticizer that is considered safer than orthophthalate plasticizer due to its excellent toxilogical profile.
Due to its low volatility, DOTP can completely meet the requirements and cable heat resistance level, which can be widely applied in resistance to 70oC cable material and other various kinds of PVC soft products.
DOTP has excellent intermiscibility so it also can be used in many other applications such as acrylonitrile derivatives, polyvinyl butyral plasticizer nitrile rubber, celllulose nitrile, sysnthetic rubber plasticizer, paint additives, and paper softener.
