Reactions of epoxide groups of glycidyl methacrylate copolymers

An investigation was made of polymer‐analogous reactions of the epoxide ring bound to the polymer chain with a number of agents such as amines, diamines, hydroxyamines, carboxylic acids, phosphoric acid, phosphorus pentoxide, thiourea, etc. The polymers used were homogeneous or slightly reticular gels. All reactions were considerably affected by the type and thermodynamic quality of the solvent. Reactions with the amino compounds were greatly dependent on their basicity and on the size of the alkyl groups. By using diamines one can obtain a material containing free amino groups capable of further reactions. A sufficiently high conversion of the reaction of the epoxide group with carboxylic and mineral acids could be achieved only in an anhydrous medium. In other media acid‐catalyzed hydrolysis predominated, along with the required addition reaction. If the reaction mixture was treated with thiourea and then left to react with hydrogen sulphide, a polymer gel was formed containing two vicinal thio groups able to bind heavy metals. The reactions described show that the epoxide group bound in the copolymer allows a number of reactions which lead to products with properties markedly different from the starting material.