Hydrochloric Acid → Btg H2O

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Reaction Steps

This example illustrates the production of a compound of formula I wherein B3 and B4 are ether linkages. To a round bottom flask equipped with a stirrer, nitrogen inlet tube, and a distillation head, were added 70 millimoles of tridecyl alcohol ethoxylate (nominal 100 ethyleneoxy units per mole of ethoxylate), 30 millimoles of polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of about 8,000 grams/mole and 400 grams of toluene. To this mixture was added 140 millimoles of sodium hydroxide (as an aqueous solution at 50% by weight sodium hydroxide). The flask was then heated to azeotropically distill off most of the water with stirring and nitrogen gas sparging. The conditions of distillation were such that about 1,000 ppm of water remained in the toluene solution. The solution was then cooled to 80° C. after which 90 millimoles of epichlorohydrin were added. The reaction mixture was then maintained at 80° C. until the epoxide titration reached approximately zero. (A 4.0 gram aliquot of the reaction mixture and 4 grams of tetraethylammonium bromide can be dissolved in 50 ml of glacial acetic acid and the resulting solution titrated with a 0.1036 N HClO4 in glacial acetic acid solution to a methyl violet end point for the amount of epoxide (epoxy titration). The reaction mixture was then neutralized to a substantially neutral pH (about pH 7) with aqueous hydrochloric acid. Butoxytriglycol (BTG) and water were added to give a clear yellow BTG/H2O/product ratio of 1:2:2 by weight.

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