Chemical Modification of Halogenated Polymers Under Phase Transfer Conditions

The chemical modification of several polymers including poly (vinyl bromide), poly (chloromethyl styrene), poly (vinylidene bromide), and poly (epichlorohydrin) was studied using various nucleophiles in multiphase systems with the assistance of a phase transfer catalyst. Satisfactory results were obtained using o-di-chlorobenzene as solvent and powerful nucleophiles. The use of dimethylformamide as solvent often resulted in large increases in both reaction rates and conversions but sometimes created other problems. With several polymers dehydrohalogenation or chain cleavage were observed and in general the more basic nucleophiles were more destructive. With poly (vinyl bromide) the reaction was used to produce efficiently polymers containing alkyl sulfide, methyl sulfone, vinyl sulfone, or thioethanol side chains with little apparent polymer degradation.