Mesoporous silica (e.g. SBA-15) was evaluated in the esterification of lauric acid with butanol. ZnO/SBA-15 and MgO/SBA-15 were synthesized and characterized using N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms at 77 K, 29Si magic angle spinning solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (29Si MAS NMR), X-ray...