Rapid monitoring of bisphenol‒A diglycidyl ether formation through byproduct estimation: A study by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy

✍ Scribed by Jayakumar Sreenadhan; Chandan Guria

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 997 KB
• Volume: 123
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.34892

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

For identification and quantification of desired and undesired products during epoxy resin formation, polymerization of bisphenol‐A with the stoichiometric excess of epichlorohydrin is carried out using catalytic excess of alkali. The reaction is monitored using Fourier transform infra‐red (FT‐IR) spectroscopy technique. Major undesired products are unreacted monomers (bisphenol‐A and epichlorohydrin) and byproducts (chlorine and α‐glycol substituted diglycidal ether of bisphenol‐A), whereas the desired product is only diglycidal ether of bisphenol‐A. Molar concentrations of epichlorohydrin, bisphenol‐A, diglycidal ether of bisphenol‐A, chlorine substituted resin, and α‐glycol substituted resin in the polymerization mixture are analyzed and quantified using FT‐IR characteristic frequency bands at 925, 3448, 1344, 773, and 3641 cm^−1^, respectively. For optimal determination of process parameters on polymerization, effect of temperature and alkali loading on epoxy polymerization is carried to maximize the yield of diglycidal ether of bisphenol‐A with simultaneous minimizing the byproducts formation. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012