Kinetic studies of the catalyzed urethane reactions between isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and alcohols and of the urea reactions between an isocyanate-terminated prepolymer [IPDI-PPG2000-IPDI, where PPG2000 is poly(propylene glycol) with a number-average molecular weight of 2000 g/mol] and water in the bulk state were performed with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Dibutyltin dilaurate was used as the catalyst for the urethane reaction, and various tertiary amines were used as catalysts for the urea reactions. The reactions were followed through the monitoring of the change in the intensity of the absorbance band for NCO stretching at 2270 cm 21 in the FTIR spectra; the activation parameters were determined through the evaluation of the kinetic data obtained at various temperatures (within the range of 30-608C). The kinetic data indicated that the catalyzed isocyanate/alcohol and isocyanate/water reactions both followed second-order kinetics during their initial stages but later followed third-order kinetics resulting from the autocatalytic effects of hydrogen bonding between the hydroxyl groups and the newly formed urethane and urea groups. Furthermore, activation energies of 64.88 and about 80 kJ/mol for the isocyanate/alcohol and isocyanate/water reactions, respectively, indicated that the ureaforming reactions were more sensitive to the reaction temperature than the urethane-forming reactions.

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