The transesterification of diphenyl carbonate(DPC)with 1,4-butyldiol(BD)was kinetically investigated in the presence of lithium acetate catalyst at 465K.The reaction was followed by the measurement of the quantity of phenol which was distilled from the reactor.The experiments supported the assumption that the phenyl ester groups in DPC and phenyl hdroxybutyl carbonate(PHBH)had the same reactivity,and the transesterification obeyed first-order kinetics with respect to DPC and BD,and a rate equation was derived.The reaction rate was found to be first order with respect to the catalyst concentration as well.When those data were incorporated in the rate equation,excellent agreement between calculated values and the observed ones was recognized over a wide range.