• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1101-1104
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• 2001

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.325-328
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• 2012

The condensation reaction of 9,9'-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)fluorene with epichlorohydrin to prepare 9,9'-bis[4(glycidyloxy) phenyl]fluorene (2), an important building block for fluorene-containing epoxy polymers, has been studied. The reaction is found to be quite sensitive to several experimental conditions such as reaction temperature and time, added amount of epichlorohydrin, the presence of catalysts and the use of co-solvent. Several conditions for obtaining the best yield in the reaction are: the reaction temperature is below 373 K and the reaction time is shorter than 1.5 h, and the ammonium salts act as a catalyst. Also, the use of ternary solvent (toluene, DMSO, water) has been proved to be crucial to maintain the reaction temperature and for an easy purification. Thus, the reaction proceeds in an environment-friendly manner where the use of reactants and the production of chemical wastes is minimized.