Phenol → Formaldehyde

Participants

Reaction Steps

The phenol-formaldehyde resols useful as intermediates in this invention are prepared as follows: To a suitable reactor, there is charged a quantity of phenol, a catalytic amount of sodium hydroxide (0.5-5.0 grams) of 50% NaOH solution per mole of phenol; in the examples below 1.75 grams of caustic solution per mole of phenol is used, and 37 or 55 percent aqueous formaldehyde (in the amount to give the desired phenol-formaldehyde ratio). The mixture is heated for about 2 hours between 60°-70°C. The total reaction mixture which is an aqueous solution of resol may be used, without further treatment, to react with the resorcinol/resorcinol polymer mixture. If desired, the resol solution may be neutralized prior to reaction with the resorcinol polymer but preferably the solution is used as is.

Provenance & Evidence