Effect of Temperature on the Enzymatic Polymerization of 4‐Propylphenol: An In Situ 1H‐NMR Study

Abstract The effect of temperature on the concentration of the major reactive species as a function of H2O2 addition in the enzymatic polymerization of 4‐propylphenol was investigated using in situ 1H‐NMR spectroscopy. We have studied the trend of monomer depletion and the formation of predominant dimers with an incremental addition of H2O2 at different temperatures. The trends for depletion of monomer are very similar while the trends for the dimers display dramatic differences at the investigated temperatures. The dynamic equilibrium stage of dimers was observed only in the case of low reaction temperature. The comparison of the in situ spectra recorded at different reaction temperatures suggests that less undesired side reactions occurred at low temperature. #Dedicated to the memory of Professor Sukant K. Tripathy.