- Reactive epoxy diluents – Reactive diluents such as butyl glycidyl ether, ethylhexyl glycidyl ether, etc are used in epoxy formulations to reduce viscosity and reduce or eliminate the need for solvents or other volatile organic compounds.
- Modification of Biopolymers – Modification of starch or cellulose ethers (particularly HEC) with alkyl glycidyl ethers can provide disruption of hydrogen bonding and introduce a hydrophobic group. Such modified starches find use as rheology modifiers in personal care applications, like shampoos and conditioners.
- Monomer/polymer/resin modification – Resin modifiers are used to improve mechanical and thermal shock resistance, increase elongation, and obtain higher flexibility and impact strength.
- Textiles – If their surfaces contain reactive hydroxyl groups, textiles might be modified with an allyl functional glycidyl ether to improve their color fastness as dyes that would ordinarily adsorb reversibly on the surface of the fiber might adsorb permanently (chemisorb) if the surface is allyl-functional.
- Chemical intermediates for diverse applications – glycidyl ethers can be used as intermediates for a wide range of applications due to the high reactivity of the oxirane group.
- Crosslinker in super absorbent polymers – di-glycidyl ethers may be used as surface cross-linking agents in superabsorbent polymers to reduce gel-blocking and improve absorbency under load.
- Scavenger in chlorinated solvents – glycidyl ethers can find use as acid scavengers in chlorinated solvents thereby improving stability.
- Pharmaceutical Intermediates – A variety of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are, or could be, derived from glycidyl ether intermediates including therapeutic agents known as β-blockers.
- Chemical Linkers – Glycidyl ethers derived from alcohols or phenols that contain a secondary reactive group are especially useful as chemical linkers. Perhaps the simplest example is allyl glycidyl ether which has two functional groups, the oxirane group and the allyl group, can be useful in the modification of surfaces by covalent bonding rather than by simple adsorption.
- Silane industry, compatibilizer – allyl glycidyl ether finds use as an intermediate in the production of silane coatings for electrical applications.
Learn more about glycidyl ethers from SACHEM. You can request a sample or get a quote. Let us know what application you are interested in testing.
