Diglycidyl ether and Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether

Diglycidyl ether is a compound used as a reactive diluent for epoxy resins.Other uses include treating textiles and stabilizing chlorinated organic compounds.Diglycidyl ether itself is highly toxic and can be fatal or cause permanent injury if inhaled or ingested.As a class of compounds, there are many commercially available compounds with much lower toxicity.One such example is the epoxy resin itself bisphenol A diglycidyl ether.

Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether

Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (often abbreviated as BADGE or DGEBA) is an organic compound that is a liquid epoxy resin.This compound is a colorless viscous liquid (commercial samples may be pale straw in color).It is a key component of many epoxy resin formulations. Then add bisphenol A and catalyst,heating can make higher molecular weight solid bisphenol A glycidyl ether epoxy resin.

Preparation and reactions

It is obtained by O-alkylation of bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin.This reaction gives mainly bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, and some oligomers.The degree of polymerization can be as low as 0.1.The epoxide content of such epoxy resins is important.This parameter is usually expressed as an epoxide value, which is the number of epoxide equivalents in 1 kilogram of resin (Eq./kg), or as an equivalent weight, which is the weight of resin containing 1 molar equivalent of epoxide in grams (g/mol). Due to the chirality of asymmetric epoxides, diepoxides consist of three stereoisomers, although they are not separated.Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether is slowly hydrolyzed to 2,2-bis[4(2,3-dihydroxypropoxy)phenyl)propane (bis-HPPP).Likewise,DGEBA reacts with acrylic acid to form vinyl ester resins.This reaction results in the opening of the epoxide ring, producing unsaturated esters at each end of the molecule.Such materials are usually diluted with styrene and converted into resins.Epoxy resins are thermosetting polymers that are crosslinked using hardeners (curing agents).The most common epoxy curing agents are polyamines, aminoamides and phenolic compounds.