A Facile Synthesis of Polyglycidyl Ethers from Polyols and Epichlorohydrin

The reaction of 1,1,1-tris(hydroxymethyl)ethane (1a), 2-ethyl-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1, 3-propanediol (1b), pentaerythritol (1c), or 1,2, 6-hexanetriol (1e) with epichlorohydrin in the presence of potassium hydroxide in dimethyl sulfoxide gave the corresponding tri- or tetraglycidyl ethers 3a-c, e in high yields. This procedure was also applicable to the preparation of the phenolic polyglycidyl ethers.