Formaldehyde resins. 94. On the reaction products of diphenyl ether and polymetylenediphenyl ethers with formaldehyde

Abstract From the reaction products of diphenyl ether and formaldehyde, o ‐methylol diphenyl ether ( o ‐MMP) was isolated. Its amount was only 1/38 of that of p ‐methylol diphenyl ether, as shown by v.p.c. The reaction of p.p ′‐Diphenoxydiphenylmethane (M2P) and p.p ′‐di‐( p ″‐phenoxybenzyl)‐diphenyl ether (2M3P) with formaldehyde was also carried out in the presence of acidic catalysts in order to isolate the p ‐monomethylol derivatives of M2P and 2M3P ( p ‐MM‐M2P and p ‐MM‐2M3P) and p.p ′‐dimethylol‐M2P ( p.p ′‐DM‐M2P).