Dow Global Technolgoies LLC

Northwestern University

Mihir Bhagat

David R Wilson

Sukrit Mukhopadhyay

SonBinh T Nguyen

William Hoy Heath

Arjun Raghuraman

Heather Spinney

Matthew E Belowich

Justin M Notestein

Linda J Broadbelt

Charmaine Bennett

Youlong Zhu

Heather A Spinney

A method of producing a polyether alcohol that includes feeding an initiator into a reactor, feeding one or more monomers into the reactor, feeding a polymerization catalyst into the reactor, the polymerization catalyst being a Lewis acid catalyst having a general formula M(R)(R)(R)(R), separate from feeding the initiator into the reactor, feeding a hydrogen bond acceptor additive into the reactor, the hydrogen bond acceptor additive being a Cto Corganic molecule having at least two hydroxyl groups, of which two hydroxyl groups are situated in 1,2-, 1,3-, or 1,4-positions on the organic molecule, and allowing the initiator to react with the one or more monomers in the presence of the polymerization catalyst and the hydrogen bond acceptor additive to form a polyether alcohol having a number average molecular weight greater than a number average molecular weight of the initiator.

Lewis acid polymerization catalyst

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Evanston, IL, United States of America

Mihir Bhagat