Poly (sodium acrylate) supporting NaOH (NaOH/NaPAA) was prepared by in situ polymerization of
aqueous solution of acrylic acid with an over-neutralization by adding excess of NaOH. NaOH/NaPAA
presented a promising selectivity for water absorbency and good water retention with negligible swelling
capacity in the organic solvents of methanol, glycerol, rubber seed oil methyl esters, and rubber seed oil.
NaOH/NaPAA catalysts showed a basic strength of 15.0 < H_ < 18.4 and their basicity increased with the
increase of the NaOH loading amount. NaOH/NaPAA catalysts exhibited almost the same catalytic activity
in the transesterification of rubber seed oil with methanol under the optimized reaction conditions
compared to conventional homogeneous NaOH catalyst. Furthermore, the functional absorbent/catalyst
system presented a good water resistance in the transesterification which retained high catalytic activity
when a water concentration in the reaction system was less than 2 wt.%.