Synthesis and Reactions of Halogenated Polyethers and Polysulfides

Polyepichlorohydrin (PECH) is well known as a reactive elastomer. Displacement at the carbon-chlorine bond of PECH has been accomplished with a wide variety of nucleophilic reagents, for the purposes of polymer modification, grafting and cross1inking. On the other hand, the PECH structure is hardly optimal from the point of view of its reactivity as a substrate for nucleophilic substitution: chloride is modest in its leaving group ability, and the β-branch point (i.e. the chain backbone) would be expected to depress reaction rates by a factor of 10 or so.