The effects of the reaction conditions on the kinetics of two different polyurethane systems were investigated. To do so, three different kinetic methods were compared: adiabatic temperature rise (ATR), measurement kneader, and high-temperature measurements. For the first polyurethane system, consisting of 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (4,4-MDI), butane diol, and a polyester polyol, the reaction conditions did not seem to matter; a kinetically controlled reaction was implicated for all reaction conditions. The reaction was second order in isocyanate concentration and 0.5th order in catalyst concentration and had an activation energy of 52 kJ/mol. The second polyurethane system consisted of a mixture of 2,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate and 4,4-MDI, methyl propane diol, and a polyester polyol. For this system, each of the three measurement methods showed different behavior. Only at a low catalyst concentration did the ATR experiments show catalyst dependence; at higher catalyst levels and for the other two measurement methods, no catalyst dependence was present. Furthermore, the ATR experiments proceeded much faster. Presumably, for this system, the rapid diffusion interfacial of the species present was hindered by the presence of bulky oligomer molecules. The result was a diffusion limitation reaction at low conversions and an inhomogeneous distribution of species at higher conversions. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.