Abstract: A zinc manganese oxide nano-catalyst was synthesized by a co-precipitation method.X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) results indicate that the sample can be indexed to tetragonal ZnMn₂O₄ and the particle size ranges from 20 to 50 nm.The obtained ZnMn₂O₄ nanoparticles were used as a catalyst for the esterification reaction between acetic acid and n-butanol.The experimental results show that ZnMn₂O₄ nanoparticles had a high catalytic activity on the synthesis of n-butyl acetate.The influential factors including catalyst calcination temperature,acid-to-alcohol molar ratio,dosage of the catalyst and reaction time on the yield of n-butyl acetate were also investigated,and the maximal esterification rate of up to 92.53% was achieved under the following conditions: catalyst calcination temperature=300 ℃,n(acid):n(alcohol)=1.8:1,the dosage of the ZnMn₂O₄ catalyst is 0.3%(in total mass of reactants),reaction time is 4 h and esterification reaction temperature is 120 ℃.