Synthesis Of Tetrahydrofuran And Propylene Oxide Copolyether

This invention relates to the cationic copolymerization of tetrahydrofuran(THF) and propylene oxide(PO) with born triflroride(BF3) as a catalyst and a diol or a aliphatic alcohol as a preinitiator precursor. The amelioration of the manufacture process was studied as well.A modified catalysis acylation method to determine hydroxyl value of polyether polyol was described. The hydroxyl value of polyether polyol is determined by the catalyzed acylation method using the mixed reagent of p-toluenesuflonic acid, acetic anhydride and petroleum ether. The acylation reaction is completed in a 250 mL iodine flask which was heated in a water bath(50oC). It takes about an hour to determine the hydroxyl value for one sample. The apparatus used is simple and can readily be manipulated. The result obtained is satisfactory.The copolyether PTP was characterized by FT-IR, and 1H-NMR. It was found that the product was obtained under the following suitable conditions: the amount of catalyst 2.5 g/100 g reactants and the feeding rate of PO 0.21 g/min. when the ratio of THF and PO is 1.8:1, there are 50 mole % THF units in PTP chain.The molecular weight can be adjusted from 500 g/mol to 3000 g/mol by using 1,2-propanediol.The amelioration of the manufacture process was studied.process route ammonium carbonate neutralization reagent The product performance was improved under the following modified manufacture process: neutralization, reclaim THF, purified by water, drying. The product dodecyl polytetrahydrofuran polypropoxy ether(DPTPE) was characterized by FT-IR. It was found that DPTPE was prepared with tetrahydrofuran,propylene oxide and dodecanol over born triflroride catalyst. The suitable conditions as following: the amount of catalyst 6 g/100 g all the reactants, 3 h aging time.