Toyo Kasei Kogyo Company Limited

Shinichiro Seki

Ryozo Orita

Kunihiro Shimamoto

Hiroshi Hatanaka

This invention is concerned with a method for the production of thioalkylene glycols by using the reaction solvent containing mainly the thioalkylene glycol, the product of the reaction of alkylene oxide and hydrogen sulfide, without using any other special solvent or inert solvent, in the presence of anion exchange resin as the catalyst, the method which enables the simple, economical and high-yield production of thioalkylene glycols because a high pressure is not necessarily required and the purification and isolation are carried out very easily. For example, according to this invention, thioethylene glycol was obtained in a 91% yield from ethylene oxide and hydrogen sulfide in the mixture of thioethylene glycol and thiodiethylene glycol as the solvent in the presence of the anion exchange resin as the catalyst. Similarly, thiopropylene glycol in a 95% yield from propylene oxide and hydrogen sulfide in thiopropylene glycol as the solvent, and thio-.alpha.-butylene glycol in a 94% yield from .alpha.-butylene oxide and hydrogen sulfide in thio-.alpha.-butylene glycol as the solvent, were obtained.

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Otsu, Japan

Shinichiro Seki