A NOVEL SYNTHESIS OF REACTIVE POLYETHERS WITH PENDANT CHLOROMETHYL GROUP BY POLYADDITION OF BIS(EPOXIDE)S WITH AROMATIC DICHLORIDES

New polyethers with pendant chloromethyl groups were successfully synt hesized by a polyaddition of bisepoxides with 4,4'-dichloro-3,3'-dinit rodiphenyl sulfone (DCNS) using quaternary onium salts or crown ether complexes as catalysts. The polyaddition of DCNS with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) was enhanced efficiently by the addition of te trabutylammonium chloride (TBAC), tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB), o r tetrabutylphosphonium chloride (TBPC) as catalysts. It was also foun d that the reaction proceeded smoothly in amide-type polar solvents su ch as N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) to give a high molecular weight polyether P-1. The polyaddition of DCNS with diglycidyl ether of ethylene glycol (DGEEG) using TBAB in DMAc al so proceeded to give the polyether P-2 in good yield. The resulting po lyethers contain reactive chloromethyl groups in a side chain, which w as introduced during main chain formation.