Abstract: Lauric acid cellulose esters were synthesized in cellulose/LiCl/N,N-dimethylacetamide（DMAc）homogenous solution using p-toluenesulfonyl chloride for the in-situ activation of lauric acid. Structure and properties of the obtained lauric acid cellulose esters were characterized by means of IR，1H NMR，TG，etc. The esterification conditions were investigated and the results showed that the degree of substitution（DS）was influenced by mole ratios of cellulose repeat units/lauric acid/p-toluenesulfonyl chloride，reaction temperature and reaction time. Under the optimized reaction conditions，the highest DS was 2.58. TG analysis revealed that the inter- and intra-molecular interaction of cellulose was weakened by the esterification，and hence the cellulose lauric acid esters were endowed with preferable thermal processing characteristic. The products are soluble in various organic solvents，depending on the DS.