Reactive Ionic Oligomers. I. Precursors for Water-Soluble Cationic Polymers Obtained by the Reaction of Dimethylamine with Epichlorohydrin

The reaction between dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin (in excess) was studied with the purpose of obtaining compounds with ammonium quaternary groups and reactive groups like 2,3-epoxypropyl and 2-hydroxy-3-chloropropyl. It was found that the ionic products of this reaction are mixtures of oligomers described by the following chemical formula: [GRAPHICS] where, depending of the reaction conditions, the parameters n and chi take values in the ranges 0-1.5 and 0-0.75, respectively. It is shown how these structure parameters are affected by the ratio of reactants, the solvent, the temperature, and the time of reaction.