The chloromethylation of polystyrene (PS) was performed high effectively in a homogeneous system using self-made 1

4-bis(chloromethoxyl)butane (BCMB)as the chloromethylation reagent and adopting Lewis acid catalysts.The reaction mechanism was investigated

the effects of various factors on the chloromethylation reaction were examined

and the optimum reaction conditions were determined.The chemical structure and composition of the products were characterized with infrared spectrum and Volhard method.The experimental results show that the reaction mechanism consists of two kinds of reactions possibly

electrophilic substitution on benzene ring and nucleophilic substitution accompanying by ether linkage fission.All the used amount of BCMB

the property and used amount of the catalysts

the property and used amount of solvents and temperature influence distinctly the chloromethylation of polystyrene.There are two types of effects of reaction conditions on the chloromethylation of polystyrene

one is the influence on PS chloromethylation degree

and the other is the influence on the remaining linearity for PS.The chloromethylated polystyrene (CMPS) with 80% of chloromethylation degree and complete linearity was obtained under the optimum reaction conditions.