E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Donald Truszkowski

Suriyanarayan Dorai

An improved method for manufacturing diesters of polytetramethylene ethers involving the polymerization of tetrahydrofuran (THF) optionally with one or more comonomers (e.g., 3-methyl THF, ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, or the like) utilizing a solid acid catalyst (e.g., Nafion.RTM.) and a carboxylic acid with carboxylic acid anhydride (e.g., acetic acid with acetic anhydride) as molecular weight control agents wherein setting the pressure of the reactor while simultaneously achieving removal of the heat of reaction by operating under solvent/monomer evaporative reaction conditions effectively controls the reaction temperature. Such a process is useful in producing high purity commercial grade PTMEA that advantageously avoids problems caused by the high heat of reaction when such a process is scaled up to commercial level.

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Kingwood, TX, United States of America

Donald Truszkowski