Poly(ethylene glycol) grafted onto Dowex resin: an efficient, recyclable, and mild polymer-supported phase transfer catalyst for the regioselective azidolysis of epoxides in water.

In this study, an efficient method was designed to graft poly(ethylene glycol) effectively onto commercial Dowex resin. The catalytic efficiency of the copolymer obtained as a new solid-liquid phase transfer catalyst was studied. It was proved that this organocatalyst is an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for regioselective azidolysis of epoxide in water and gave azidohydrin in excellent yield under mild reaction conditions. The polymeric catalyst was easily recovered by simple filtration and showed no appreciable loss of activity when recycled several times.